Love confessions
by Chancey74
Summary: A training exercise that leaves Hiccup and Astrid trapped on a new island together to wait out a storm, neither one knows how the other really feels will that change? Also what happens after the events of the storm? Hiccup x Astrid I DO NOT OWN HTTYD OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS OR CONTENT.
1. Late

BANG, BANG, BANG! Hiccup groaned and covered his head with his pillow... BANG, BANG, BANG! It was then that he realised the banging was someone at his bedroom door, not His nightfury Toothless banging on the roof.

"Hiccup?" A familiar blond voice called from behind the door. Oh gods he was late! He quickly fumbled around at the end of the bed for his shirt and fur hastily clawing it on, he tried to pull his trousers on lying on the bed hastily fastening his belt, he stood up and immediately lost his balance forgetting his prosthetic was still propped up against the bed. He fell to the floor with a thud and cursed as he hit the floor. It was at that moment that Astrid opened the door to see him fall.

He looked up at her his cheeks red with embarrassment, she giggled at him which only made him blush more, Hiccup watched her as she crossed the room in one graceful fluid movement her blond hair tied beautifully up in her normal braid and her fringe covering her one eye, oh gods how he loved that, Hiccup had always had a crush on astrid for as long as he could remember, he loved her, but... He knew he wasn't the Viking that girls wanted. Who wanted a scrawny boy with freckles and goofy teeth? He had grown but that just made him look even thinner, so he kept his feelings hidden from her, she'd probably kill him anyway.

He watched her as she fastened the leather straps that held his prosthetic in place, he marvelled at her skilled hands, she was even better at putting his own prosthetic on than him. He trained a Night fury, he defeated the red death, but he was still less than useless in hand to hand combat. How was he ever going to impress her? She helped him up then walked to the door, "come on Hiccup we're already late thanks to you!" He looked down at his feet but she had a hint of sarcasm in her voice and as he looked up a smile had spread across her face, oh she was so beautiful when she smiled even in her armour and spiked skirt she was so... Perfect. He finished his train of thought and walked over to the door and down the stairs out into the cool Berk morning air.

Astrid followed Hiccup out of the house and quickly leapt onto her dragon Stormfly throwing her a fish as she did so, she looked over to Hiccup as he waited for Toothless to finish his breakfast and she let out a soft sigh, she had always liked Hiccup, he wasn't like the other Vikings, he was different, and in a good way, kind,caring,funny, compassionate,innocent and he was always so gracious when he lost anything, never once complaining. She never teased him liked the others did, but when she first had feelings for him, she tried to bury them by focusing on becoming the best warrior shield maiden she could, she became more like the others which she would never forgive herself for.

But now she couldn't hold her feelings in, Astrid Hofferson had fallen in love, and it was then that she decided today Hiccup would become hers. "How's the leg?" She asked her voice soft,

"well apart from not being there fine I guess" was his answer his dry sarcasm evident in his voice, she punched him on the shoulder "oww" he complained his forest green eyes looked up apologetic,

"that's for not taking me seriously" she grabbed him by the collar and kissed him lightly on the lips, "and that's for making me laugh earlier" she stared at his dazed expression and then blushed as he did, "race ya" she yelled and took off in the direction of the academy.

"Hey no fair" he called after her, but she'd already taken off.

"Let's show her how it's done Toothless" and with that they shot straight into the sky, Stormfly was fast but nobody outruns a nightfury, he soon caught up to her and kept at her pace.

Hiccup didn't know what it was but something was telling him now was a good time to try something new, he unhooked his safety lines and locked toothless' tail in place, they'd practiced this many times but never succeeded in Hiccup not falling off. Hiccup jumped and landed with a "ugh" as he landed on his coxis behind astrid, he pecked her on the cheek not knowing where his courage came from and jumped off the other side, he landed cleanly on toothless hooking himself back in.

"Show off" he heard her tease as they flew through the academy entrance, Hiccup just in front(as usual),

"so what's the surprise?" Fishlegs asked "and why did we need all this gear?".


	2. The island

"So you are all wondering why I asked you to bring all this stuff?" Hiccup asked looking round at the blank faces,

"well duh" snotlout blurted out from atop his dragon Hookfang,

"we are all going on a survival training exercise and we will be doing this in pairs" He looked around at his fellow teens all still looked confused except astrid who was smiling and a little red, was she blushing? Hiccup dismissed the thought and continued "you all get one small hatchet and a knife between you along with two flasks and a flint, the aim of the exercise is to build a shelter and find a water source to sustain your self, you may use your dragons to fish and incase of wild dragons but for nothing else" now there was excitement in the air and Hiccup could see it on their faces too, pleased with himself he announced where the trip was taking place.

"We will be spending the weekend on a small island I discovered with Toothless last week, I call it terror isle because the islands only inhabitants are a colony of terrible terrors, they're not aggressive and will only attack if provoked" he stared at snotlout when he said this,

"okay" he huffed"no terrorising the terrors" satisfied Hiccup announced the pairs,

"Ruff, Tuff you will be one pair, Fishlegs and Snotlout the other, that leaves Astrid who's stuck with me." He didn't turn around to see her reaction but realised Ruff was giggling at him, no something behind him, he turned to see Astrid blushing madly but he couldn't think why.

When hiccup announced she would be with him alone for the WHOLE WEEKEND she just couldn't stop herself from blushing, luckily only Ruff noticed and started giggling at her, Ruff was the only other person who knew how she felt and did her best to contain herself before somebody noticed. Astrid couldn't believe her luck, and then Hiccup noticed Ruff silently giggling and caught her blushing, to her horror he innocently suggested "if you don't want to go with me,we could switch with somebody else" his eyes dropped and his goofy smile vanished when he said this making astrid wonder...

"No I want to go with you" she blurted out much to fast, at this his face lit up and his smile returned,

"in that case we better go and make a start" he was so cute when he tried to sound like a leader, she leapt onto Stormfly and followed him out of the academy the others close behind.

Astrid chatted to hiccup about the island as they went, it sounded so beautiful and just like paradise, she didn't mind being soft with hiccup, with him it's different, only he is allowed to see this side of her, she had a reputation to uphold after all, she may have feelings but she was still tough to the core, nobody will know but him. After a minute of silence she spoke up

"how far is it?" She wasn't really paying much attention to where she was going until he announced,

"we're here milady" she looked away at his words not wanting him to see her expression of pure delight at that last remark, not in front of the others she told herself. When she looked out to the island a gasp escaped her lips, the island was just how he described it, a few beaches surrounded the island with a small hill rising up from the island and it was covered in dense forest the same colour as hiccups eyes.

He led them to a small clearing at the base of the hill where a cave was hidden from sight, "this is the home of the terrible terrors where we will meet at the end of the weekend" he announced to the group, "your on your own now and must proceed on foot but your dragons may fly above until you find a spot to settle in as they will not fit through the trees" he waited until the others had gone before turning to face Astrid, he would have spoke but he was lost in her beautiful blue eyes, they shone in the midday sun glistening like the light of the moon bouncing on the waves, a quick "ahem" from her brought him back to reality making him blush.

"I know a place" he whispered and gestured for her to follow, he dived into the trees stumbling because of his now missing leg, it snagged on a root and he would have fell on his face if it weren't for Astrid who skilfully caught him and lifted him to his feet,

"careful dragon boy" she whispered in his ear sending shivers down his spine, "slow down, we don't want to have injuries before we've even started" she teased, great he thought, typical, he had to make a fool of himself in front of her didn't he? Then she did something he didn't expect she kissed him, it was only on the cheek but still... "Lead the way" she prompted, Toothless came up behind them and lifted hiccup up onto his back,

"thanks bud" he helped astrid up and they proceeded through the forest, the other dragons couldn't fit but nightfuries are smaller than most dragons but not any less deadly of course, a quick nod to toothless and the dragon knew where to go, and picked his way through the forest toward the west side of the island.

However none of the teens not even Hiccup noticed a black cloud forming on the horizon. It may have been hours away but the wind had picked up sending the storm their way.

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	3. Home sweet home

**so sorry about there not being as much hiccstrid in the first two chapters but I am trying to have more in the next chapters :)**

Astrid sat behind Hiccup hugging his waist so she wouldn't fall off as Toothless scrambled through the forest, she was resting her chin on his shoulder, and was about to drift into a peaceful sleep when something lifted her chin up, it was Hiccup "we have arrived milady" at that moment they emerged from the trees into a small cove facing the west side of the island, there was a small cave just big enough for the four of them across the water from where she was sitting, " home sweet home" he announced with a sigh, they both dismounted and sat on the beach, it had been a long walk(for Toothless) so the dragon just lay down in the sun to sleep, "we better start making camp, I'll wake up toothless to help catch fish, could you see what there is for bedding?" He asked, so she took the hatchet and went to the nearest fur tree and cut down some branches to use the furry leaves as bedding.

When Astrid came back from her fourth trip to the trees Hiccup had made a make shift basket out of reeds and was filling in with fish that Toothless and Stormfly had caught, there must be a pond nearby she thought not really caring as Hiccup probably new every inch of the island, the next trip she took her dragon with her to help with firewood, Hiccup had just started weaving the bedding together but he was having trouble,

"here let me" she heard him attempt to protest but ignored him, she herself had done weaving as a small child but was really more interested in destruction, he wouldn't move, rolling her eyes she grasped his hand a looked up at him, he tried to look stern but all he managed to do was make her giggle,

"I'm so useless" he muttered "ouch, what was that for?" she'd hit him hard on the arm,

"don't you ever say that again Hiccup" she was quite annoyed at his words, "you've never been useless, and don't let anyone tell you different" she kissed him on the cheek "now go get me some firewood" she watched him leave the cave, "what am I going to do Stormfly?"she let out a long sigh "why can't he see how amazing he is?"

Hiccup sang to himself as he searched for firewood holding his cheek where Astrid hand kissed him,toothless hummed along with him trying to be helpful, but mostly jumping on hiccup making him drop all the wood he had collected, "aww come on Toothless just hold still while I tie this wood to your saddle" finally the wood was secured and he led the dragon back through the woods, the most deadly dragon in the world to my enemies and acts like an oversized kitten with me, what happened to unholy offspring of lightning and death itself? Hiccup just looked at this dragon prancing through the trees and rolled his eyes, "come on Toothless it's time for dinner" that did it, before he could say nightfury he had been tossed onto the dragons back and was speeding through the forest on an over excited Toothless.

They burst through the trees and straight into the cove, Toothless stopped suddenly sending hiccup flying face first into the sand, "ugh" he groaned, he was then suddenly aware of Astrid laughing uncontrollably from the cave entrance, "snot funny" he complained spitting out mouthfuls of sand which of course sent her into more hysterics, he sat up rubbing his chin, astrid had a fire going and some water boiling above the fire with some of the fish cooking on a makeshift spit, toothless approached his pile fish and tucked in alongside Stormfly, once the fish had cooked they were both sitting on their coats eating and laughing about what the others would be doing mostly about how Fishlegs would cope with Snotlout.

Once they had finished she went to sit out on the beach and gestured for hiccup to join her, the sun was just starting to set, sending beautiful gold and reds and orange lights onto the water, the lights reflected off the surface and onto the white chalk walls of the cove, creating a brilliant colour display of the setting sun, "it reminds me of you" he stammered,

her heart did a somersault in her chest "me?"

"It's the most beautiful place I've ever seen, of course it reminds me of you" she couldn't contain herself, she crushed her lips against his hugging him tight and knocking them both onto the soft sand, his arms found their way round her waist pulling them closer together and her hands ran through his hair exploring every inch of his russet locks, she never wanted this moment to end but the need for air forced them apart, she stared into his eyes, lost in the his gaze, "I had no Idea that..." He trailed off,

"I thought that maybe I wasn't good enough..not in my wildest dream did I think that..." She held back tear,

"you would love me back" they both finished, and then they were kissing again more passionately than before, she ran her hands through his hair again, his lips parted to let a moan escape, and she took that opportunity to slide her tongue into his mouth, their tongues met for a second as if giving permission to the other before diving into the other exploring every inch, this continued for a while before Toothless and Stormfly both huffed, she sat up and once again found herself lost in his eyes, he stroked her cheek and finally spoke "I love you" his voice was soft and gentle,

"I love you more, and that will never change" as they sat there watching the sun disappear Astrid couldn't help feeling smug, she was his, and he was hers.

Really want to know what you think :)


	4. The Storm

**So I have been putting POV's in my story but not actually using 1st person so I'm sorry for that, I am still doing it from their POV from the way I write it in some paragraphs but it's like a third person POV sorry for any confusion, I'm dying to know what you think of my story so please review :) :)**

The mighty roar of Thunder pierced the sky waking the two Vikings that were sleeping in each others arms peacefully, "inside quick" Astrid took hold of Hiccups hand and they both ran for their cave just as the heavens opened up and rained down upon them, "that was close" she said as Hiccup finally persuaded Toothless to come in out of the rain.

"Thor must be having a tantrum or something" he smiled slightly at his own joke before he started to panic,"oh gods what about the others? I have to find them" Hiccups obvious concern for others above himself always amazed her,

"they'll be fine Hiccup, they can take care of themselves don't worry" astrid placed a comforting hand on his shoulder,

"I have to help them!" Hiccup ran to the cave entrance but astrid stopped him hugging him from behind,

"you will only endanger yourself" she couldn't just let him go, not after what he confessed to her,

"I don't care!" Hiccup tried to break free, to help his friends, "let me go Astrid, they could be in trouble, I can't just sit here" he was fighting her now desperately trying to fight the storm to help his friends.

"Hiccup you'll only get yourself hurt, or even killed, I didn't go through the weeks of crying and praying to the gods that you'd wake up to lose you to a storm" great now she was crying again, fearless Astrid Hofferson never cried, not when her grandmother died, not when she went through unbearable injury, but those two weeks when he wouldn't wake up brought her to her knees, she couldn't eat, she couldn't sleep and when she did she had horrible nightmares when he never woke up, it was those memories that made her cry again, she sobbed into his back, when he realised what was happening Hiccup stopped fighting her and turned in her grip, he hugged her tight to him, "I can't lose you" she sobbed into his chest now, she felt him lift her chin to force her to look into his eyes,

"I'm not going anywhere, don't cry, I'm right here I'm staying right here with you" she looked into those emerald green eyes,

"I love you" she hugged him closer

"I love you too" his voice soft, neither of them moved until she punched him on the shoulder,

"that's for trying to leave me" then she kissed him, she moved her hands to his head and started running her hands through his russet locks, he moaned and moved his hands round her waist hugging her closer to him, he ran his hands down her curves and rested them on her hips, after what seemed years but was more like minutes they broke apart, "and that's for everything else"

Hiccup still couldn't believe that Astrid cried over him, the thought of her losing sleep over him made him feel incredibly guilty, he realised that she was shivering in his arms, quickly without caring for his own warmth he removed his fur and placed it carefully around her shoulders, "thank you" she snuggled into his embrace using his chest for a pillow, he lightly kissed her forehead, then moved down to her neck, she tilted her neck to give him more access but felt him shiver against her, Hiccup was freezing but he didn't care, as long as Astrid was warm he didn't care, "hiccup your-" but he silenced her with his lips,

she pulled away trying to remove his coat,"no don't"

"but your freezing" she protested, he shook his head,

"I have a better idea,Toothless" the dragon seemed to know what he wanted, he plodded over to them and lay on his back wings open inviting them in, Astrid raised her eyebrow, Hiccup flashed a grin at her and hoisted her into his arms, Astrid squeaked in surprise, since when did Hiccup have the strength to pick her up?

Hiccup carried her over to the dragons open embrace and snuggled into him still holding Astrid close to him, Toothless closed his wings plunging them into darkness, "this was your brilliant idea? Trap me in the protective embrace of a dragon, a lot of effort just for a cuddle"

Hiccup chuckled "it worked didn't it?, and now you can't escape" he flashed her a grin through the darkness, he was right she was stuck with no way to escape, but why would she want to?,

"neither can you, your stuck with me haddock" she turned to face him and wrapped her arms around him pulling him tight to her, "your going nowhere" her eyelids started to droop,

"I wouldn't dream of it", protected in their own little sound proof bubble of toothless the two fell into a pleasant sleep wrapped in the others embrace.

Meanwhile Snotlout and Fishlegs were taking cover in a hollowed out tree, How long before this storm blows over?" Fishlegs was worrying over Meatlug his dragon, what if she's cold?, what if she's hungry?, what if she needs a hug?" Snotlout snorted

"Shut it Fishlegs, she's probably off eating rocks, now get over here and help me barricade the entrance" Fishlegs lumbered over to Snotlout who was creating a rock shield of Meatlug's breakfast,

"I hope the others are having an easier time of this than us, although Im worrying more about the twins". The twins were actually quite safe, they had taken shelter in the terrible terrors home, luckily for them the terrors had loved the fish oil Ruff used on her hair and had let them stay, so now they sat and shared some fish with their new friends.

thanks for reading please review.


	5. Morning Hope

**Ok here it is guys the next chapter hope you enjoy it, some fluffy bits here too :)**

Back on Berk the storm had just hit and Stoick the chief, (and Hiccup's dad) was trying to calm the villagers, "where is Hiccup when you need him?" He yelled to Gobber over the storm,

"they're not going anywhere in this storm" Gobber yelled back but noticed the worry on his friends face, "let's get everyone in the great hall before they're blown away" the great Viking nodded before his booming voice echoed through the sky

"EVERYONE INSIDE NOW" Stoick watched the last of the Vikings enter the hall and took one last look way out to sea, hoping his Son would be alright before entering the great hall closing the great doors behind him and barricading the whole village inside.

"He'll be ok, don't you worry",

"I know Gobber but he is my Son and all I can do is worry"

The storm was still raging on Terror isle, but as morning came, it brought with it the welcome sight of the sun shining down upon the island, Astrid hugged Hiccup tight in her sleep waking him from his slumber, he opened one eye to find he couldn't see anything, the slight humming of a sleeping dragon reminded him of where he was, he tried to move and only found himself stuck in someone's arms, he looked down and smiled to himself, Astrid was sleeping with her arms wrapped around Hiccup and her head on his chest, Hiccup lightly brushed her cheek with the back of his hand and kissed her forehead, she smiled in her sleep and let out a soft sigh, he wrapped his arms around her as carefully as he could trying not to wake her, he failed of course

Astrids POV

I slowly opened my eyes to find my face buried into Hiccups chest, immediately I felt the all too familiar burn of a blush rush to my cheeks as I remembered the night before, I looked up at him to find his eyes locked onto me, oh his eyes! I immediately found myself gazing into those adorable emerald eyes, he leaned down to kiss me lightly brushing his lips against mine, I returned the kiss once again losing myself in his loving embrace, the kiss turned from innocent to passionate as I lost control of myself not wanting the moment to end, we broke apart panting heavily, his lips moved to my ear his breath warm against my skin,

"good morning" he panted in my ear, I let out a small giggle satisfied that I had exhausted him in this way,

"I never want to leave this cave" I tried to sound assertive but failed as my cheeks burned once again, when his goofy smile spread across his face.

"Neither do I" he sighed before continuing "but I'm worried about the others" I couldn't say no when he was being so selfless, so reluctantly I agreed,

"fine but I'm coming too" his face lit up at this

"I wouldn't have it any other way" a warm feeling spread through my body as he said that, I would never tell him but he always made me feel this way, warm and fuzzy, and I loved every minute of it.

Authors POV

Hiccup knocked on Toothless's wing "excuse me, can we please get up now?" The dragon huffed but complied, his wings opened bathing the couple in the morning sun, they untangled themselves from each other's arms, Hiccup checked Toothless's saddle before mounting,

Astrid ran over to Stormfly "ready girl?" Stormfly nodded in agreement, they took off in search of their friends, it didn't take long as smoke had begun to rise from the centre of the island, when they landed by the Terrors cave Tuffnut and Ruffnut were leant against their dragon, the Hideous Zippleback with its two heads Barf and Belch, the twins had their faces stuffed full of fish and seemed to be having quite a feast between them, Astrid rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath,

"mutton heads" Hiccup couldn't quite help chuckling at this,

"hey you two lazy oafs care to help us find Fishlegs and Snotlout?".

The twins groaned and got sluggishly to their feet, they had both been quite content until those two had arrived and ruined breakfast,

"fine" they both grumbled in unison, once in the sky Toothless spotted two dragons by a hollowed out tree, landing as silently as they could they noticed that rocks had been piled up as a shield against the storm, all four of them sneaked up to the entrance and peaked over, immediately they fell about in fits of laughter for what they saw had to be the funniest thing they had ever seen, Snotlout and Fishlegs had their arms around each other with Snotlouts head on Fishlegs's shoulder drooling happily, both boys had woken at their laughter and split apart instantly dropping their heads in embarrassment, the twins now VERY glad they had come along were holding onto each other for support,

"y..yo...you" Astrid tried to get her words out but just laughed harder, "you two looked so sweet together" she finally chocked out, Snotlout scowled furiously at her

"can we go now?" He asked angrily, Hiccup was breathing heavily

"sure sure, just let me catch my breath" when they had all calmed down, they said goodbye to Terror isle and set off back home, Snotlout was moody all the way back as he knew they would never let this go.

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	6. Working Hard

**So I have a few more chapters in mind, I'm hoping to do a nice fluffy story, there will be either a sequel or I will just put the sequel on the end which kind of makes sense since it takes place straight after this story, what do you guys think? Let me know in a review or pm me :)**

It was still early morning when the gang arrived back on Berk, the damage was not as bad as they feared but Hiccup knew he had his work cut out for him at the forge, the doors of the great hall were still shut and nothing stirred or made a sound, the village was too quiet, no bustling morning shoppers at the market trying to buy the best that was on offer, no squeal of excited young Vikings chasing their dragons, no happy faces greeted them as they walked the streets, it was like a ghost village, the sun was bright and low bathing Hiccup in a pool of light, he turned to the doors of the great hall placed his hand on the handle, Hiccup dragged the colossal doors open flooding the great hall with light.

The doors of the great hall swung open creaking and groaning as they were pulled back, the sun's light burst in temporarily blinding the Vikings inside, when they recovered they still could not make out the figure standing before them, something about his presence frightened them, there was a greatness about this mysterious man, that baffled them, he stepped through the doorway his metal prosthetic ringing out through the silent hall, all eyes were on Hiccup, the light faded as the sun retreated behind the clouds, it was then that they recognised him, "Hiccup?" Stoick's voice broke the silence, Hiccup nodded confused, had he done something wrong? He thought about this before a bear like hug crushed him in two gigantic arms,

"ugh... Can't...breath" Stoick put his son down

"sorry about that" Hiccup just laughed

"it's ok dad, just try not to suffocate me next time" the vikings laughed at his sarcasm.

"Father son time is over lad, we've got work to do" Hiccup rolled his eyes, trust Gobber to interrupt one of the only times his father had showed how much he cared about his son.

Astrid's POV

I should have been happy, but I wasn't getting any time with Hiccup at all, he spent most of the day at the forge helping to repair the village and often stayed late into the night, I knew he wasn't lonely because he had Gobber and Toothless with him, but still... He had been at it for a week now with not much contact with me, didn't he want to spend time with me? Tears stung my eyes at the thought, I pushed them back, I am a Viking shield maiden I will not show weakness, I'm going to the forge tonight! I decided I was going to pull him out for a ride with me but when I got there I just froze in the doorway.

Authors POV

Hiccup was hammering away at something, what it was Astrid couldn't tell or just wasn't paying attention. He had grown in the past few months, now standing a good six foot high, but what really distracted her was the fact he had no top on, his bare torso was now outlined with newly formed muscles and his arms were much bigger than she expected, his back muscles rippled as he struck the red hot metal bending it into place, he wasn't big and burly like the others, but something about this was still Hiccupy, she was glad to see he was still the same Hiccup when he clumsily dropped whatever he was making, much to his luck, it landed in the water barrel, she just stood there gawping at him for a while.

Hiccup turned to see Astrid still standing at the door, "AAAHHHH", he jumped back stumbling over buckets and scrap metal, "Astrid... don't do that" Hiccup stuttered, she smiled, he definitely was still the same Hiccup, even after their confessions to each other he would blush and stutter when he spoke to her, his body may have changed but the boy she fell in love with was still there,

"sorry, I just enjoy watching you work" Hiccup looked confused, had she watched him work before? He silently dismissed the ridiculous thought,

"can I help you?" She sighed heavily,

"I just wanted to spend time with you, we haven't seen much of each other over the past week..." her voice trailed off, she sighed again, a long sad sigh.

Hiccup crossed the room and enveloped her in a loving hug, she buried her face in his shoulder, Hiccup took her chin and stared deep into her eyes. He leant in and she met him halfway, their kiss was deep and affectionate, as usual her hands tangled in his hair and his on her waist, they backed up against the wall and Astrid tilted her head to the side parting her lips asking for entrance, he followed just as eager as her, deepening the affection of the moment, they finally parted and touched foreheads, his hands still on her waist hers still in his hair,

"I missed you every minute I was in this forge, I've been waiting for this moment for too long, I love you Astrid Hofferson"

"I love you too Hiccup Horrendous HaddockIII" they stood together looking deep into the other's eyes.

"Then it's about time you got out of here lad" Gobber was standing in the doorway a huge grin on his face, "go on lad I've got it covered here, go enjoy yourselves, you've earned it after all the work you've done" Gobber didn't wait for a reply and ushered the couple out the door "and put some clothes on" he picked up Hiccup's tunic and chucked It at him, but before Gobber closed the door Hiccup turned to his mentor,

"thank you" Gobber replied with a smile before Hiccup and Astrid took off hand in hand toward the great hall,

the blacksmith smiled to himself "ah young love, Stoick will be proud"

**Thank you for reading please review **


	7. A lesson to be learned

**Ok guys and gals there's a bit in this chapter that I could not wait to write, Snotlout gets taught a lesson. And ouch, that lesson has got to hurt.**

Hiccup's POV

We left Gobber at the forge to finish the evenings work, I took Astrid's hand lacing my fingers through hers, we passed a few Vikings on their way to the great hall like us, they kept giving us weird looks, a small child pointed to where our hands were bound together in her death grip, I realised what they all must have thought, what is Astrid Hofferson doing with a fish bone like me, I may have defeated the Red Death but I'm still a talking fishbone, there are plenty of other men much better for Astrid than me, she's not like those fan girls who follow me because I'm the dragon trainer."so why me?" I didn't realise that I had let that slip until She stopped, and turned to me.

"what did you say?" she looked confused at my slip up, I swallowed my fear,

"I'm not like the other Vikings, why me?",

"Hiccup, I love you because your different, you are caring, compassionate, thoughtful, kind, intelligent and you always put others before yourself, all the other Vikings just want me because of my looks and abilities, your so much better than them in so many ways"I couldn't believe my ears, a smile began tugging at my lips, I let it go and it spread across my face, "besides, why would I want a husband that would crush me every night?" I had to laugh at that, most Vikings were huge men who would make anyone cry for their mummy, so you can imagine how heavy they are.

"that may be true Astrid but no matter what you say I will never be good enough for you" SLAM! Her fist collided with my arm "ouch, what was that for" I frowned at her,

"Thats for being stupid" I opened my mouth to complain but was silenced by her tongue, she pulled away leaving me breathless,"and that's for everything else", I took her hand once again,

"I think I will be stupid more often" she hit me again but lightly this time, if you can call her punches light,

"come on dragon boy" she rushed off to the great hall with me in tow.

Astrid entered the great hall first because she had asked for a race, and in my condition I wasn't winning anything on foot, I ambled up to my friends, Astrid was already sitting and chatting to them, "do you want some mead Astrid?" She turned and flashed me a victory grin before answering,

"yes please Hiccup" Snotlout, Fishlegs and Tuffnut's jaws all dropped and they all stared, except Ruff who just sniggered, "what? I'm a nice person if you don't annoy me" the boys just continued to stare, I had to hold back a laugh because the look on their faces was priceless, Astrid was never nice and polite to me in public, until now, so I guess it was quite a shock for them,

"ok, be right back" I hurried off to get her and myself a mead each. I returned to find the familiar sight of Snotlout flirting with Astrid, normally this wouldn't anger me but now things were different between us, every word he said just fuelled the anger bubbling inside me,

"come on Astrid why won't you go out with me, I'm the only one for you" he flexed his muscles and Astrid looked like she was going to be sick,

"back off Snotface", he moved closer to her and she just shoved him off the bench, I smiled at that, that's my Astrid, but Snotlout quickly recovered and sat down by her and put his arm round her, by this time I was silently fuming, she quickly jumped up and moved to stand by me, Snotlout quickly grabbed her and pinned her against a support beam,he slowly leaned in and Astrid furiously struggled against was the last straw, white hot rage coursed through my body and before I knew it I had closed the distance between Snotlout and Myself, my fist collided with his jaw before he could carry out his intentions and made a nice crunching sound,time seemed to slow as Snotlout's body arched from the impact and crumpled to the floor, as soon as this happened I snapped out of my rage and stared at the unmoving boy on the floor, I had knocked him out, cold, the whole hall was silent before a mighty cheer arose from everyone, even Spitelout (Snotlouts dad) just shrugged and said,

"he had it coming all his life", Astrid punched me on the shoulder, I stared at her in disbelief,

"that's for fighting my battles for me" I just rolled my eyes at her, she grabbed me by the collar and pulled me in for our best kiss so far, there was passion in this kiss, it wasn't frantic and wild like our other kisses but deep and loving, all of our emotion was poured into that kiss, several people whistled, oh gods I forgot everyone was here! We reluctantly broke apart, "and that was for everything else".

Authors POV

The hall was completely silent before once again erupting in cheers, Hiccup and Astrid had both turned a deep shade of scarlet, "I guess we are public now" she whispered, Hiccup laughed and Astrid joined in,

"Drinks in honour of my Son and his new found love" Stoick's voice boomed with pride,

"New found, I've loved her ever since I laid eyes on, her all those years ago" although this was whispered under his breath, Astrid heard and she whispered into Hiccups ear,

"ever since you made my axe for me in the forge, for my birthday" Hiccup remembered the day like it was yesterday and smiled at the memory, wait how did she know?

Hiccup was 6 and had only been at Gobbers smithy for a couple of months, Astrids family had never been wealthy and didn't have enough money to pay for much apart from essentials so their weapons were their favourite possessions, but Astrids parents couldn't afford the axe their daughter had always wanted, Hiccup had heard Astrids mother sobbing to her husband, Astrids birthday was a month away and they couldn't get what she wanted, the little boy went straight to Gobbers forge, He worked tirelessly for weeks, he was only 6 and even a simple design would have been difficult even for a trained smith at age 6, nevertheless he fashioned his first weapon, it was simple yet elegant, shining and glinting in the light of the coals at the furnace, Gobber had been watching the little lad and finally inspected the beautiful piece of work.

"This is amazing lad!" his eyes were starting to tear up as he marvelled at how skilled the boy was.

"Don't cry Gobber" the little boy squeaked, the blacksmith dried his eyes

"who is the axe for lad?" Hiccup looked at his feet before answering,

"A..Ast..Astrid, I...heard her mummy crying... that she couldn't buy her an axe..." The little boy was having a hard time explaining through his stutter before Gobber starting sobbing loudly,

"go..sob...give her...sob... the present...sob..." The little boy lifted the axe struggling under the weight, he stumbled out of the forge off to the Hoffersons, "that boy has a heart bigger than all of us put together" Gobber would never forget this moment. Hiccup knocked on the Hoffersons front door, there was muffled sobs before Mrs Hofferson answered the door he husband standing behind.

"Hiccup! What have you got there?" Astrids mother was a sweet woman and was always kind to him, Hiccup looked at his feet and then straight into the woman's eyes,

"here" the little boys squeaked and handed Mrs Hofferson the axe,

"are you sure?" The little boy nodded, this was the first time Hiccup didn't stutter when talking to adults, he wore serious expression, "did you make this?" Hiccup nodded again

"now you can give Astrid the axe she always wanted" and with that the boy ran off back home. The two just stood in the doorway mouths open as they watched Hiccup run up the hill, they both looked down at the beautiful axe clutched tightly in Mrs Hoffersons arms, she burst out crying again and hugged her husband, "why would he do such a wonderful thing? He had no reason to be so generous" his wife was awestruck.

"Because that's who he is" he replied, that was the day Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III gained his undying respect.

Astrid's birthday came and the little blond Viking bounded out of bed and down stairs to her parents who were waiting in the kitchen,

"happy birthday sweetie I hope you like your present" Astrid's eyes rested where her mother was pointing, a brand new deadly sharp double edged battle axe, she picked up the weapon in awe and hugged her mother and father tightly, but the little girl was not fooled, she knew they had no money to spend on such a magnificent weapon,

"how did you buy this mum?" Her mother sighed and looked to her father, he nodded,

"we didn't, Hiccup made you the axe because he knew we couldn't afford one, and gave it to us without even asking for a thank you".

Astrid Hofferson felt something stir inside her that could only mean one thing, she left her house in search of one person and one person only, she found him being pushed around by the others as usual, she punched Snotlout in the nose and slapped Tuffnut across the face, she took one look at the boy and hugged him, as she hugged him the stir became a warm feeling, she did not know it then but looking back on it now she knew that was the moment she fell in love.

**So I'm thinking of adding a second pairing to the story, Ruffnut and Snotlout or Fishlegs and Ruffnut, let me know which you think by pm or in a review.**

**Thanks for reading, please review.**


	8. Romantic Nights

**Ok so I'm pretty happy with this story so far and this next chapter gives us the beginnings of a new relationship, whose you ask, well you'll have to read to find out mwuhahahahaha!**

Authors POV

Hiccup and Astrid snapped back into reality, they both smiled at each other knowing they remembered the same thing, Astrid noticed a pack of girls all crying in the corner, when they saw her staring, the fan girls glared angrily at Astrid, she suddenly felt very protective over her boyfriend, she smiled evilly at them and turned to Hiccup, she placed her hand on his cheek bringing his attention to her, she moved her hands to the back of his head, Astrid pulled Hiccup in for a kiss, at first he was surprised, but after a couple of seconds he melted into the kiss returning with as much love as possible, he lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his middle, the hall once again stood silent as the two shared their passion. As soon as they broke apart for air, cheers erupted around them once again, this of course was the reaction Astrid was hoping for as the fan girls wailed and stormed out."Let us drink and feast tonight!" Stoick really did want to celebrate, they both sighed, it wasn't really anybodies business, so a party seemed a little to much, however Haddocks are stubborn and don't back down easily, so they just went along with it anyway.

Astrids POV

I love dancing, even though I've never really done any, the music just gets me so excited I just want to be there with everyone else dancing and laughing, Hiccup sighed next to me, he got up and took my hand in his, "may I have this dance milady? I didn't even reply, I just dragged him into the fray, soon we were dancing and laughing along with all the others, he was struggling a bit because of his leg but he seemed too wrapped up in the moment to care. The song ended and a new much slower song started to play, he took me into his arms and we swayed to the music, I nuzzled into his shoulder and snaked my hands around his waist, I forgot everything else, all that matters is Hiccup and I, "how are you liking our party?"

I looked up into his eyes, "it doesn't matter about the party, just so long as I'm here with you" his goofy smile spread across his lips making my insides feel like goo, he twirled me slowly before resuming our position in each other's arms, he leaned in to kiss me and I melted into it, this gained many oos and Awwws from the crowd, I growled in frustration "why can't they just mind the own business",

He just laughed hugged me closer "we could go somewhere quieter" he took my hand and guided me outside,

I raised an eyebrow "where are we going Hiccup?"

His reply was a chuckle, " you'll see, but you will know it when you see it" he mounted Toothless and offered me his hand, "care to take a ride milady?"

I took his hand without question and sat behind him wrapping my arms around his waist, I kissed his cheek, his hand flew to the spot where i had kissed him, "Come on babe, I want you alone, let's go".

He raised a questioning eyebrow "babe?"

I shrugged, "Just go with it"

He laughed, "anything for the lady" and with that we took off into the cool night air.

Authors POV

Fishlegs sat by himself with his head resting on his hands staring sadly at the happy people dancing in front of him, he was happy for Astrid and Hiccup, hell, he was glad they finally showed their feelings to each other, he just felt lonely, he had nobody except Meatlug, Fishlegs was happy with his dragon, he only felt lonely at these dances when nobody wanted to dance with him, it was at that moment that the gods smiled down upon him, a hand grabbed him by the fur on his shoulder and he yelped in fear, the hand pulled him from where he was sitting and dragged him to the dance floor, when he finally saw whose hand it was he gasped in surprise "Ruff..Ruffnut?" then she slapped him in the face.

"Just shut up and dance with me!" Fishlegs was stunned and then he silently thanked the gods. They danced all night and into the morning getting more drunk as the night wore on (well Ruffnut got drunk, Fishlegs vowed never to drink that stuff) until finally Ruffnut fell into his arms, he picked her up in his arms, like you lift your bride when carrying her over the threshold, she rested her head on his chest and muttered something "best night of my life". Then she passed out exhausted, and Fishlegs just carried her home straight into her bedroom and tucked her into her bed, He then staggered home and collapsed on his bed, he slept a very happy man, even if he was still a little confused.

Meanwhile Hiccup and Astrid had landed in the cove and were lying on a blanket holding hands whilst studying the stars, "those ones right there!"

Hiccup pointed to a cluster of stars, "no they don't, don't be silly",

He huffed in frustration, "look there's the handle and there's the pot"

Astrid rolled her eyes at her boyfriends imagination, "Hiccup they don't look like a saucepan!" He stared at the stars hard, concentrating, his brows knitted together and he wriggled his nose, a small giggle escaped Astrid's lips,

he gave her a questioning look, "what?"

"Your cute when you concentrate" he frowned, which only made her giggle more,

"You think I'm funny do you? Well we will see whose laughing when your at my mercy" he lunged at her exposed sides tickling her furiously, they rolled over and he ended up on top and pinned her wrists to the floor, "give up?"

She stuck her tongue out at him, "never!" So he began a fresh assault finding her most sensitive spot easily, she screamed like a little girl, "AHHHH!...HICCUP! NOOO! STOP!"

He stopped and pinned her wrists to the floor again, "give up yet?" She frowned and stuck her tongue out again, "you asked for it" he struck again, but this time she rolled him over so she was on top, but now they were no longer tickling but kissing, how they managed to make that change I don't know, but it's Hiccup and Astrid, anything is possible, the moon had broken through the clouds and sent down a ray of light illuminating the pair in a beautiful spotlight, Hiccup was the one to break the kiss, "you cheated" he teased,

"I had no choice, you were winning and I couldn't have that" she winked at him, her braid had come loose during their struggle and now cascaded down her shoulders like a wave of liquid gold, Hiccup marvelled at the blond beauty lay on top of him, speechless he gazed up at her, her sapphire eyes shone as the moonlight reflected off them, he raised his hand to stroke her cheek, her skin was so soft and flushed red where he touched her, she may have had her armour on but Hiccup liked her that way, she was the living embodiment of the phrase "if looks could kill" Hiccup continued to stare even when Astrid moved so his head was in her lap,

She played with his hair, running it through her fingers and seeing how many different hairstyles she could design, it wouldn't take long for it fall back to its regular messy rugged look, so she decided on braiding it instead,

"Uh Astrid?"

"Mmm" she murmured still working on his braid,

"what are you doing with my hair?"

She finished and proudly shoved it in his face, "I made you a braid do you like it?" She smiled but her voice had an edge to it, luckily for Hiccup he did like it,

"I do actually, gives me something to remember you by" SMACK! "Yeah and that too" he frowned at her "and what was that for?" She thought for a second trying to come up with a reason,

"For not giving me a chance to have my revenge" she leant down and kissed him softly on the lips, "and that's for, everything else" he just grinned at her, she lay down next to him and rested her head on his chest, he put his arm around her and used his saddle bag for a pillow, when he thought she was asleep he whispered in her ear,"I love you",

he laid his head back on his saddle bag and was just about to drift off when she murmured

"I love you too" they lay there lost in the moment before both of them fell into a peaceful sleep, warm and safe in the others arms.

**Sooo, what did you think? I had to go over certain bits quite a few times but I think I did well, anyway I'm going to stick with only two couples at the moment, mostly because I want to focus on Astrid and Hiccup, but I am going to eventually get Tuff and Snotface into couples, I have a nice little story planned for Tuff not sure about Snotface but I'm sure I will come up with something, have a nice day and please REVIEW!**


	9. A Fathers Approval

**Sorry this took longer than usual my beta reader is at some sort of camp,There isn't much of Fishlegs and Ruff in this chapter because they are still a little unsure although both of them know there is something between them, mostly Hiccstrid in this chapter, I'm stuck on names for Astrids parents so any suggestions are welcome**

Hiccup woke to the sweet smell of fresh pine and honeysuckle, he smiled as Astrid sighed in her sleep, he brushed her bangs away from her face and kissed her cheek, only to have them fall straight back into place, he watched her sleep for a while, she's so peaceful in her sleep, her breaths are soft and smooth, her cheeks are slightly flushed and her golden hair was laid across his chest, it felt soft to touch and seemed to glow in the morning sun, if he didn't know any better, he would have thought she was an angel sent from Valhalla**.**

Hiccup stroked her cheek with the back of his hand leaving a flush of red wherever he touched, he planted a kiss on her forehead, she nuzzled into him in her sleep, Hiccup couldn't see Toothless anywhere, so he decided to get up and look for him, but he couldn't, a certain blond Viking had him secured with both arms around his waist and a leg over his, he tried to slide out but to no avail, she stirred, "no stay here, just while the sun rises",

He chuckled,"morning milady" he leaned in to kiss her cheek, Astrid took the opportunity to capture his lips, she nibbled playfully at his bottom lip and he moaned a little into the kiss, once again Astrid found herself tangled in Hiccups hair, she did have a bit of an obsession with it, she would take every opportunity to braid his hair or run her hands through it, he never complained, mostly because he enjoyed it as much as she did, "I will never get tired of that" hiccup whispered after pulling away and sitting up, much to Astrids annoyance, she hit him in her favourite spot on his shoulder, "oww, what was that for?"

Hiccup really did have no clue, "oh shut up and come here" she grabbed him by his tunic and pulled him down for another kiss, she rolled him over so she was on top to make sure he couldn't escape, Hiccup rolled his eyes, he stood by the claim he made a couple of months ago, he definitely could get used to this.

The sound of a stomach rumbling broke the couple apart, Hiccup and Astrid followed the direction of the rumble to find a very grumpy looking and unimpressed Toothless, they both just laughed at the dragon, Toothless' expression didn't change "you can't give us a little time to ourselves?" Astrid scowled at him, then Hiccup's stomach rumbled, "Babe! Not you too!" She scowled at Hiccup now, "arghh boys".

Hiccup looked down accusingly, betrayed by his own stomach, he sighed, "it's fine, I can wait"

Astrid grabbed his hand and dragged him to Toothless, "no the moment is over let's go" she climbed on Toothless and announced her real reasons, "I'm actually quite hungry too" Hiccup sighed, girls are so confusing, he climbed up behind Astrid, "um, babe what are you doing, I can't ride toothless"

Hiccup started to put Astrids hair in her usual braid, "your hair milady, can't have the village thinking your soft" he winked at her,

"What's wrong with my hair?" He sighed from behind her,

"Nothing Astrid, I prefer it down but I also like your warrior side"

"Stop, I have a better idea" she stopped his hands and her hair fell loose again, "can we go to my house so my mum can do my hair first?" Hiccup looked surprised and a little hurt, didn't she want him to do it? She noticed this, "I've wanted a change for a while now, but I need my mums help because you won't know how",

he cheered up knowing it wasn't him,"of course milady" he switched with her on Toothless, she wound her arms tightly around his waist,

she kissed his cheek, "ready", Toothless launched into the air, the black dragon raced over the forest making it look like a green blur, it didn't take long for them to reach the Hofferson residence, when they landed Toothless immediately ran over to Stormfly, Astrid instructed Hiccup to wait in the kitchen while her mother did her hair, her father sat across the table from him and seemed to be concentrating on his breakfast, "how are you coping lad?"

Hiccup jumped in surprise, "uh...what?"

The older Viking was staring intently at Hiccup, "how are you coping, with ya leg an all"

"Oh...it's um.. Fine" Hiccup lied to look tough in front of Astrids father,

"It's alright lad, you don't have to put on a brave face in front of me, you don't have to earn my trust and approval, you earned that long ago" Hiccup just sat there confused, "you remember when you made that axe for Astrid?"

Hiccup wasn't expecting that, "yeah" he stammered a bit, from the surprise

"Well that was the day you earned my everlasting respect, you were such a young child, and you performed the most selfless deed, it was from that moment that I knew you were the one for my daughter, unlike the rest of these meatheads you have compassion and intelligence, traits that are hard to find in Vikings, but most of all, I knew you would love my daughter, not just for her beauty, but love her for who she is" Hiccup sat with his mouth open wide unable to say a word, this huge bear of a man had just silenced every fear he had, he had just managed to close his mouth when Astrid walked in.

Hiccups POV

Astrid danced down the stairs, in her usual spiked skirt, leggings and blue tunic, I looked up to her hair, she had a long braid that was draped over her shoulder, there are smaller braids intwined into the larger braid starting from her hair line, and her bangs still covered her face, for the second time that day I was speechless, a small change but it made all the difference to me, this somehow made her even more beautiful and kept her shield maiden look, "what is it babe?" A smirk was playing on her lips,

I just stuttered and my words caught in my throat , "you...you are so... Beautiful" Astrid blushed a deep red and looked away at the wall, I noticed her father smile out of the corner of my eye,

Her father broke the silence "Off you go, have a nice day sweetheart",

Astrid smiled, "thanks dad, and don't call me sweetheart I'm a warrior-

"Shield maiden yeah yeah I know, now get out of the house and take Hiccup to have some breakfast, he is wasting away, poor lad" he winked at me and pushed us out the door. It was raining hard outside and neither of us wanted to get wet so I called Toothless and Stormfly over, Toothless knew exactly what I wanted and informed Stormfly, the dragons held their wings above the couple as they walked, they had created some sort of moving dragon umbrella, we reached the great hall and walked through the doors hand in hand.

Authors POV

Hiccup and Astrid sauntered over to their friends table, Ruffnut was sat next to Fishlegs with her head in her hands and was groaning, Fishlegs was desperately trying to get her to eat some bread, Snotlout and Tuffnut were obviously planning to take advantage of Ruffs hangover, they obviously had a death wish, Tuffnut stood up and Yelled into Ruffs ear,"MORNING"

Ruffnut lunged at Tuff knocking him to the floor, "BIG MISTAKE!" She grabbed the front of his tunic and pounded 5 punched to his face, before Fishlegs dragged her off him,

"Haha Tuff had his nose broken by a girl!" Snotlout was too busy laughing to notice Ruffs fist come zooming towards his face, and by the time he did, his nose was just as broken as Tuff's, Fishlegs sat her down and tried to get her to eat some more, he looked over at Hiccup and Astrid, she was sat in his lap and he had one arm around her, Snotlout looked like he was going to kill something, "would you two get a room!" Astrid was going to punch him herself,but Ruff got there first,

"would you just shut up for once, Hiccup got the girl not you, maybe you should think why!" Snotlout stared amazed, so did everyone else except Fishlegs who was smiling contently, he was really starting to like this girl, sure she was crazy, but she is cute, and she knows how to punch too, Ruff grabbed Fishlegs' hand and dragged him back to her house, she wasn't in the mood for her brother and Snotface, she liked Hiccup and Astrid, but their relationship was a constant reminder that she was single, but she didn't want to be alone, so she decided to have some peace and quite with the only person she could think was worth the hassle.

"What was all that about?" Snotlout was still confused,

"I dunno" Tuff was clueless too

Hiccup and Astrid rolled their eyes at the muttonheads, they four of them continued to sit with each other for a while until Snotlout and Tuff decided it was time to go yak tipping, leaving Astrid and Hiccup alone in the great hall, not that they had been paying much attention to the guys in the first place, they were too involved in each other to talk to Snotlout and Tuff, "did you talk to your dad about the race tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I can't believe he actually liked the idea! I thought he would say no" Hiccup took a sip from his drink,

"Wait he likes the idea?" Astrid looked as surprised as Hiccup was at the time,

"Yeah, he's going to announce it soon I think, so we better go get Ruff and Legs, so guys you two stay-" Hiccup looked round to see Snotlout and Tuff no longer there, "arghh I will go get them, you get Ruff and Legs"

"Ok babe, they're probably at the yak fields knowing Tuffnut" Astrid dashed out the door and down to the Thornston's house,

Hiccup watched her leave, then got up and walked out to Toothless,"come on bud, let's go find Snotlout and Tuff before they kill all the yaks" A second later and they were a black blur pointing in the direction of the yak fields.

**Thanks for all those you reviewed it's nice to know your thoughts and ideas. So the next chapter is Going to be fun, hope you are all excited, this chapter was more difficult to write, I had to keep going back over certain bits because they just were not right, but I think I've got it right now, anyway please review.**


	10. Announcement

**Ok I had a bit of writers block here sorry if it's not up to scratch, there is a small surprise is waiting for you, hope you like it because I had to do a little out of charactering to get this to work.**

Hiccup flew to the yak field the wind blowing his hair in all sorts of directions, he flew Toothless without thinking and just on instinct, Dragon and Rider as one, working the mechanism was second nature to Hiccup, he loves flying, it's what it feels like to be dragon, but he loves the freedom most of all, when Hiccup is on Toothless all his worries seem to blow away on the wind. When he landed in the yak field, there was nobody to be found, not a single yak was out of place, he decided to go back to the village to check there, as he was circling the market place he spotted Snotlout and Tuffnut silently debating something, Snotlout seemed to be pushing him toward the bakery, they hadn't noticed him yet so he decided to go down and get them.

"No, I'm not going" Tuff crossed his arms and gave Snotlout his best Scowl,

"Aww is Tuffnut afraid to talk to a girl?" Snotlout teased

Tuffnut blushed, "No, I'm the worlds deadliest weapon, I'm not afraid of anything"

Snotlout smiled evilly, this was the opportunity he was hoping for, "prove it then"

Tuff shook his head "I don't even like her"

"Yes you do, I saw you drooling! Look there's the evidence" he pointed to a wet patch on Tuffnut's tunic

"NO I DON'T" Tuff yelled turning many heads,

Snotlout smiled again "in that case you won't have a problem if I go talk to Mary will you?"

Tuff stared in horror as he turned to talk to Mary, luckily for him

That was the moment Hiccup turned up, "Snotlout, Tuff you need to be at the great hall now, that goes for everyone else too, the chief has an announcement" Tuff silently thanked Hiccup and followed the crowd back up to the great hall along with a grumbling Snotlout.

Hiccup entered the great hall with the guys in tow, Astrid was waiting for him at their usual table, she had already fetched the others, Ruff was resting her head on Fishlegs' shoulder and he had his arm around her, the poor guys looked so scared and confused, Hiccup chuckled under his breath, he like Hiccup had no attention from females for years and was just as confused as Hiccup when Astrid first kissed him, so Fishlegs was tense and completely clueless,(Fishlegs clueless, there is always a first time), Ruff however was completely comfortable, knowing Ruff she wouldn't even know what's going on, yet, she would go with whatever she felt first, which was obvious to an outsider.

Hiccup strolled over to where they were sitting, he had to chose one of them to be his second, to sit at the chiefs table with him when his father made the announcement, he knew who he would pick, but of course being Hiccup he didn't quite know how to say it, "um...uh...Astrid...I uh...would you..."

Astrid melted inside, argh why did he have to be so darn cute when he stuttered? She decided to stop him before he embarrassed himself, she gave him a quick peck to the lips to give him some confidence, "now what was it you wanted?"

Hiccup replied in a rather dazed manor "I am supposed to have a second at the table with me, that's you"

Astrid smiled,"well let's go then, can't keep your dad waiting" a smile now played on his lips, she took his hand and led him up to the chiefs table, he still had a smile on his face as he sat down, she plopped herself down beside him, Stoick stood up and let the whole room know he wanted their attention,

His voice shook the whole hall, "Settle down everyone, I have an announcement" the hall went silent and all eyes were on the great chief, "Now that we no longer have to slay dragons thanks to my son Hiccup-" Stoick was cut off by a deafening cheer, he waited for it to die down before continuing "so now we no longer have the entertainment of dragon slaying" a few murmurs could be heard from the crowd, "so Hiccup has once again saved the day..." It took a while for Stoick to even tell them about dragon racing, let alone explain the rules of Dragon Racing, through, when he finally finished he announced the date "the race will take place next week on Thorsday, you may go back to your business now"

The mighty Viking sat back down and became deep in convocation with Gobber, Hiccup turned to Astrid "that went better than expected" Astrid laughed and punched him

"That's for doubting yourself" she grabbed his tunic and pulled him down for a kiss,

Hiccup rolled his eyes "And what was that for?"

Astrid punched him again, "do I need a reason to kiss my boyfriend?" She pulled him down for another kiss

When she pulled away Hiccup grinned "I guess not, but I do like it when you tell me why" she rolled her eyes at him and grabbed him for yet another kiss, she poked at his teeth and he allowed her entrance, the kiss deepened even further when she moved off her chair and sat in his lap, Astird was in a state of complete bliss, but she couldn't think for lack of air, reluctantly she pulled away sucking on his lip before she finally let go,

Hiccup sighed in disappointment when she pulled away, her cheeks flushed slightly at his expression,"And that's for everything else" he laughed and his signature goofy smile spread across his face,

"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?" Astrid was quite surprised by this weird question,

"No, not really" that was a lie Hiccup never stopped telling her, but a Rider often reflects their Dragon and Nadders are very vain,

"There are no words to describe your beauty, even Freya herself has nothing on you" Astrid giggled at her boyfriend,

"You are such a dork Hiccup" she hit him playfully on the arm, "but your my dork", her hands found their way to his neck, this time when she pulled him down she was gentle, she stopped when their lips were millimetres apart, making Hiccups heart pound in his chest, then she whispered so only he could hear, "I wouldn't love you if you were any different" she closed the distance in a heartbeat, the kiss wasn't greedy or filled with lust, but soft and gentle, yet still just as loving.

The couple spent most of the day together, riding dragons, wandering through the market, but mostly chatting about the upcoming dragon race, in fact it was the talk of the whole village, it was all they heard wherever they went. The other teens were preparing for the race, Fishlegs was trying to strip down his saddle to gain as much speed as possible, the twins were practicing their aim with sheep, Snotlout, well Snotlout was being Snotlout and had decided he was going to win whatever happened so he was spending the day in the hot spring showing off to the village girls, the thought made Hiccup and Astrid gag, they ended up in the forge working, well when I say they, I mean Hiccup worked, Astrid just watched.

Hiccup was stripping down his saddle after working on Astrid's, he mumbled to himself as he worked, Astrid liked watching him work, it was a constant reminder that he was never useless, you just had to come to the forge to see it, clumsy as he was, his work with metal was astounding, his work was even better than Gobbers, but she had had enough of watching him work and decided it was time he stopped, he carried a blunt sword over to the grindstone and this gave her the perfect opportunity to torture him.

she got up and walked over to his desk, she purposefully knocked his sketchbook off the workbench, she slowly bent over to pick up the book leaving Hiccup with a full view, she heard a gasp and a sword clatter to the ground, she turned to see a very guilty looking Hiccup fumbling to pick up the sword he had dropped, now was her chance to have some fun "Hiccup, were you staring at my bum?"

She put on her best accusing stare and the poor boy fell apart stuttering, "Oh gods, Astrid...I...Uh...I...didn't mean... I just looked up and" she couldn't hold it in any longer, seeing him like that was the funniest and cutest thing she had ever seen,

She fell on the floor holding her stomach and roaring with laughter, he scowled but waited patiently for her to finish "we will see who is laughing when I beat you at racing next week"

Astrid raised an eyebrow "is that so? Well-" whatever she was going to say was cut off by a huge yawn, it had been a long day for the both of them,

"Tired milady?" She nodded and yawned again, "come on then, let's get you home" he took her up in his arms and carried her over to Toothless, "come on bud" Toothless lay down so Hiccup could lift Astrid onto his back, they flew to her house and in through her window so they didn't wake her parents, once Astrid had removed her clothes and got into bed Hiccup kissed her goodbye and proceeded to leave through the window,

He stopped when she called out to him "don't go, it's cold" He chuckled

"Just this once, because it's cold" that was a lie, Hiccup knew this wouldn't be a one time thing, he removed his tunic and trousers, leaving him only on his underwear, "scoot over" she opened the covers and he crawled in, when they had made themselves comfortable, with Astrid in Hiccups arms and her head on his bare chest, Hiccup let out a huge yawn, "smooth by the way"

Astrid smiled against his chest "I don't know what you mean"

He rolled his eyes"Yes you do, but I don't care, goodnight Astrid, I love you"

he closed his eyes just as she whispered "Goodnight babe, I love you too"

**Who's going to win dragon racing? Is Tuff going to pluck up the courage to ask Mary the bakers daughter out?, only time will tell, but seriously hope you liked the chapter, wooo 30 reviews 68 followers and 53 favourites. Thanks for reading please review!**


	11. Preparations

**The race is coming up after this chapter, I'm stringing you along a whole chapter! Anyway hope you enjoy the chapter.**

**In response to HTTYD 4 ever, I will don't worry, that's what I was planning :)**

Hiccup and Astrid woke to a loud band and a gasp, Hiccup shot up, wide eyed, and looked straight to the intruders, Asta Hofferson stood at the foot of the bed, wearing a rather stormy expression, and Skomlr, her husband stood in the doorway, if there was any expression it was hard to see through the bushy beard. Hiccup fell out of Astrid's bed onto the cold wood floor to reveal that he was still in his underwear, he would have blushed but his face had blanched white with fright, Asta's scowl turned all the fiercer but was mostly directed at her daughter. Hiccup glanced to Astrid's father and the older Viking winked at him, the expression of pure innocence on Hiccup's face soon won through Asta's glare and the woman smiled, Skomlr laughed, "never doubted you for a second lad, but this one" he gestured to his wife, "assumed you two weren't keeping to the law" Skomlr winked again, Hiccup found his colour and went beet red.

"Can you blame me?", Asta huffed " I walk into my daughters room to find her in bed with her boyfriend! I knew Hiccup wouldn't do anything, but Astrid-Astrid is very persuasive"

"Hey!" Astrid exclaimed "Are you saying I'm untrustworthy? Because if you are, might I remind you who broke the biggest rule of them all!" Astrid pointed at Hiccup who just shrugged and grinned at her with sweet innocence,

Skomlr snickered at the exchange "yes but Hiccup couldn't kill that dragon because he was too innocent and compassionate, you on the other hand are a vixen" Hiccup met her father's eyes and gave him a knowing nod, he snickered,

Astrid glared at her parents, "ARGHH, JUST GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" The adults left the two young Vikings to get dressed, "next time we are sleeping at your house" Astrid hissed as she pulled her tunic on,

Hiccup let of a small chuckle, "Fine by me, just try not yell at my father if he bursts in on us, that's one shouting match you will never win-trust me, I've tried" he hugged her from behind and kissed her cheek,

Astrid turned to face him eyes wide in surprise "Wait, you wouldn't mind if I slept with you?"

He shook his head, "well, it might be better if we didn't-until we are married of course" Astrid's heart skipped a beat, marry Hiccup? A host of Valkyries sang in her head, it would be like a dream come true, most Vikings were married by the age of 14, so what was stopping him from proposing? Sadly he didn't talk of marriage after that, he obviously didn't want to talk about it, so she decided not to pursue the subject,

"So what do you want to do today?" Astrid asked, she hadn't really got anything planned apart from training,

"Actually I have some work to do in the forge, and I also have to fly Toothless or I will get the silent treatment for a week" Hiccup replied, Astrid sighed, she was disappointed she wouldn't see him today, "but we could go for a ride and watch the sunset together later" she immediately started to smile,

"I look forward to it, now go fly Toothless before he comes in here to get you" right on cue the house shook as the Nightfury landed on the roof,

"Coming Me bossy, see you later milady" he kissed her on the cheek and ran to the window, she sighed and looked longingly after him as flew away in his dragon, disappearing from sight.

"Oh I know that look" she whipped round to face her mother "your in love" Astrid sighed again

Astrid sighed again, "How could you tell?" Her mother wasn't particularly observant, but when it came to her daughter she could read her like a book,

"It's the look your father gave me every day before he proposed, he may be hard on the outside, but on the inside he is an old softy, just like you"

Astrid scoffed, "yeah right I'm-"

"Yes I know, a shield maiden" Asta said waving her hands dramatically, then hugged her daughter, "it won't be long before he proposes, knowing Hiccup it will be worth the wait" Astrid smiled at her mother

"Thanks mum, you always know how to cheer me up" she hugged her mother and skipped out the door,

Asta rolled her eyes, "Shield maiden my ass"

Hiccup's POV

The long walk up to the forge gave me time to think, I can't believe I mentioned marriage to Astrid, stupid stupid stupid, I've been trying to avoid the subject ever since my dad decided he would give me a lecture on the matter, what a convocation that was,

3 weeks earlier (Hiccup's POV)

I woke up, the sun was shining, terrible terrors were singing on the roof tops, I saunter down to breakfast thinking all is right with the world, ready to run out the door and go flying with Toothless, Dad pushed aside his bowl and looked up form where he was sitting, "Son we need to talk"

this isn't going to be good, "whatever the twins did, I can fix it just give me a day or two"

My dad furrowed his brow, "What? No the twins haven't done anything, this is about you"

Nope definitely not good, maybe it wasn't too late to hope the twins had managed to destroy something. "Um" I cringed, "okay?"

He stood up and clasped his hands together, then set to pacing the room. "Your the pride of Berk son, and I couldn't be prouder, but since you've come of age it about time you settle down"

I dropped my spoon into my breakfast, "uh...um...uh...what?"

He sighed "It's time you got married son, you have two months to find a wife, if not then, I can arrange one for you"

I couldn't believe it, "dad! This isn't fair" now I really wish the twins had blown something sky high.

My father growled "it's perfectly fair, I was married off at your age, consider yourself lucky I'm giving you the choice of your bride"

I couldn't say a word, I felt sort of betrayed, "dad..." I said it out of desperation, one last pleading attempt, but to no avail,

He walked to the door and opened it pausing in the doorway, "remember, you have two months, until then unless you want to talk about it, I won't speak of it"

I shook off the memory, now at least I've found the person, well, I found Astrid years ago, I'd always wanted to marry her, but now it is possible, the only reason I don't want to talk about it with her is because I want her to be completely surprised,

Authors POV

Hiccup spent the whole week in the same routine, Fly toothless in the morning, spend the whole day working in the forge and dragon training, then spend the evening with Astrid, that was the part of the day Hiccup looked forward to most.

It was the night before the race and Hiccup was doing some last minute improvements on Toothless' saddle, he came straight to the forge after flying with Astrid, he had just started working when Gobber walked in, "Watcha workin on lad?" The blacksmith peeked over the boys shoulder

"Just stripping down Toothless' saddle, and making everything as light as possible" he stood up and walked over to the fire and pumped the bellows.

Gobber rolled his eyes "I don't think it will make much of a difference lad, that Nightfiry is the fastest creature known to us Berkians"

Hiccup shrugged, "can't hurt to be cautious, besides, I bet the others have done the same"

Gobber chuckled "you work yourself too hard lad, you need to slow down and enjoy yourself" he stopped Hiccup from pumping the bellows "you started the week by stripping it down and then you tried to change it every day since, and you ended up back at this point of just stripping it down every time, just go home and rest lad, you can't beat Snotlout if you can hardly stay awake in the saddle, he sent Hiccup off home to bed without another word, he locked the forge and headed off to the Great hall for a mug of mead.

Hiccup climbed lazily onto Toothless' back and took off into the air, taking a small circuit around the village just to clear his head - he was so excited for the race tomorrow and his nerves were jittery. He landed back home half an hour later and came in through his bedroom window, his room was unusually dark, normally his dad would have lit a candle for him, he slowly picked his way over to his desk and lit a candle; he quickly undressed and picked up the candle by the holders handle.

Hiccup turned and got the fright of his life, Astrid was lying on his bed, only in her underwear smiling up at him with a smug expression, "you said if I was cold I could come and sleep with you" he recovered from his initial shock and rolled his eyes "your dad said I could stay" Hiccup knew exactly why he agreed but didn't mention it, "unless you don't want me to stay?" She undid her braid letting her hair fall down over her shoulders and gave Hiccup her best 'come hither' look,

Hiccup chuckled and walked over to where she had slipped under the covers he crawled in beside her and pulled her into his warm embrace, "you Astrid Hofferson are a true vixen".

The vixen quickly fell asleep, warm in Hiccup's arms; he fell asleep not long after. The door creaked open, a ginger beard poked through the door way, Stoick smiled at the sight before him, he was happy that his son found love, but what pleased him most was the fact that Hiccup was more like himself than he thought, Astrid was exactly the girl he would have picked to marry Hiccup. Closing the door as quietly as he could, he left the couple to sleep and went off to the warmth of his own bed.

**So next chapter is the race, I will get it done as soon as possible, you have no idea what I have planned for after the race, but that is a while away, I have a few questions for you guys so please answer**

**How long before you want Snotface to find a girl?**

**How much of the other couples do you want in the story?**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter please review **


	12. Dragon Racing!

**Sorry this took so much longer than my other updates some confusion in the beta reading process, I still need answers to my questions guys, so please take your time to answer after you read this chapter, hope you enjoy it :)**

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"Hold still" Astrid was painting Hiccup's face for the race, he had requested black paint because that was the colour of Toothless's scales, but he just wouldn't stay still long enough for her to get a good stroke with the brush, "Hiccup!" Astrid let out an exasperated huff, "how am I supposed to paint your face if you won't stay put?!"

Hiccup pouted and gave Astrid puppy dog eyes, "But it tickles," he said putting on his best Hiccupy grin.

Astrid rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's antics, "If you stay still I will give you a reward," Hiccup stopped squirming immediately.

He pondered the offer for a few seconds, "What's the reward?" He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

Astrid giggled at his expression, "You'll have to wait to find out, but it will be worth your while." she winked at him.

Hiccup sighed "Fine, just get it over with," he closed his eyes and tried not to smile as the brush tickled his cheeks. Astrid decided to paint three claw marks on Hiccup's cheeks, she had also thought to putt two lines above his eyebrows that would join in the centre and run down his nose.

When she had finished she punched Hiccup playfully on the arm, "That's for not sitting still," she quickly captured his lips in a soft kiss, before he could say anything she had run off to find Stormfly,

As she disappeared off in the direction of the stands she shouted something that made him smile "and that's for everything else" Hiccup grinned.

Toothless nudged his friend impatiently in the back, "Hey bud," the dragon bounded about excitedly with far too much energy, but Hiccup wasn't paying attention to Toothless, so the dragon decided to have a bit of fun, he pounced upon the boy pinning him to the ground, he licked Hiccup's face until he was thoroughly soaked in Nightfury spit, then he nodded as if to say, that will teach you not to pay attention. "Aww, Toothless!" Hiccup exclaimed, "you know that doesn't wash out!" He scowled at the cat like dragon looking innocently up at him, it didn't take long for Hiccup to give up and roll his eyes, "come on bud, we've got a race to win."

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Stoick sat in the stands upon a makeshift podium made specially for the chief, the throne was wooden with each of the dragons local to Berk carved into the wood.

The crowd roared and cheered as Hiccup arrived, he dismounted and wandered over to the starting line, he was later than all the others but still on time, Hiccup and Toothless came into line by Astrid and Stormfly, she gave him a wink and smile.

Stoick stood with the intention of addressing the cheering crowd, "Welcome to the first ever dragon race in the history of Berk!" the crowd roared in anticipation. "Riders step forward." The teens walked into full view of the crowd, "you have been chosen because you are the best riders of your respective dragons!" the crowd roared once again, deafening the teens standing before them, "Today's contestants are as follows, Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston riding the Hideous Zippleback Barf and belch, Snotlout Jorgenson riding the Monstrous Nightmare Hookfang, Fishlegs Ingerman riding the Gronkle Meatlug, Astrid Hofferson riding the Deadly Nadder Stormfly and finally Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III riding the Night Fury Toothless." The crowd cheered for each of the teens but Hiccup received the most, he just rolled his eyes but Astrid heard the wolf whistles and calls of the fan girls, something that made her blood boil.

The crowd finally calmed down and Stoick addressed them once more, "Riders take your positions," they all took to their dragons except for Astrid, Hiccup was naturally very curious and stayed behind with her to see what she was up to, she turned and walked slowly to him, hips swaying as much as possible with each step, Hiccup gulped, he was both excited and scared by Astrid at this point.

When she had reached him she spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, "Good luck babe," she pulled Hiccup into a very passionate kiss for all to see, which of course the crowd loved.

When she pulled away Hiccup held her to him and whispered in her ear, "What was that for?"

Astrid smiled and leaned close to him. When her lips were at his ear she whispered back, "Just marking my territory." She kissed him on the cheek then joined the others hips swaying, Hiccup stood with his goofy smile adorning his features, he shook his head as he realized he was watching her hips sway, yep. She was definitely a vixen, Hiccup thought as he mounted Toothless. Stoick nodded to Gobber, who hobbled over to the newly made horn, with a deep breath he blew into the horn creating a loud and deep sound.

The first sheep was fired into the air, Toothless shot off like a rocket speeding straight up toward the sheep, he caught it in his claws with ease, Hiccup directed Toothless around the course flying not nearly as fast as they could because of all the twists and turns, but still much faster than all the others, the first sheep was in Hiccup's net without any bother from the other riders, and the crowd cheered as the first point was scored, the pair had to wait for the next sheep to be loaded into the catapult giving the other teens a chance to catch up.

Astrid took the opportunity to grab the next sheep before Hiccup got Toothless moving again, she did her best to stay ahead of Hiccup but he soon caught up. Astrid managed to keep hold of the sheep only by flipping and twisting so Hiccup and Toothless couldn't get close enough, she threw the sheep with deadly accuracy and scored the second point of the game, Hiccup soon renewed his lead diving and weaving around the course with immense speed and agility, the score was Hiccup – 6, Astrid – 3 and Snotlout, the twins, and Fishlegs were still at 0.

Hiccup was about to net another sheep until Snotlout – typically – lost control of Hookfang; he crashed into Toothless sending Hiccup flying off. The crowd's outraged cries and boos echoed throughout the whole island.

Toothless dived after him and just caught him before Hiccup fell to the earth, and the Night Fury crashed into the ground with Hiccup safely in his wings. Hiccup untangled himself from Toothless' wings and leapt onto his back, "Come on bud we've got a lot of ground to make up," it took Hiccup three laps to catch up to the others, but by that time the damage had been done and Astrid had evened the score.

Stoick met Gobber's eyes, "It's time Gobber," Stoick gestured to the black sheep.

Gobber nodded and shouted "Last lap!" the horn sounded alerting the riders of what was coming, Gobber loaded the sheep into the catapult, "Have a nice flight," he told the sheep whilst gesturing to the air, he pulled the lever sending the sheep into the air, all the riders raced to get to the black sheep first, it was all to play for since the black sheep is worth 10 points, they all jostled for space as they raced forward, Hiccup and Toothless were nowhere in sight and the crowd assumed they were out of the race, Astrid broke free of the group, Stormfly opened her claws ready to make the grab.

It seemed like Astrid had the race in the bag, but just at the last second Hiccup and Toothless shot from underneath snatching the sheep away from Stormfly's outstretched claws, like a blur they shot toward the nets, Snotlout cut across the course and flew right in Hiccup's path forcing him upward, Hiccup took the opportunity to disappear into the clouds, they flew in the clouds until they hovered above the nets, "Dive, bud." Toothless tucked in his wings and dropped with the speed of lightning, they sped down, closer and closer to the nets, Toothless shifted the sheep to his back paws and at the last possible moment they pulled out of the dive and Toothless released the black sheep sending the sheep flying into Hiccups goal.

Stoick jumped to his feet yelling "Hiccup takes the game!" the crowd roared in response cheering for the chiefs son, Hiccup took a victory lap behind the mountain, he flew higher and higher feeling complete bliss, he couldn't have felt better, he felt something hit the back of his head and then he was falling, the last thing he remembered was the ground coming closer before he blacked out.

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Hiccup's POV

My whole body ached, my head was pounding, I felt like all the Vikings in the village were sitting on top of me, at least the pain meant I hadn't lost any limbs this time, but I still couldn't move, all my muscles seared in pain when I tried to move, I moaned and groaned at the effort, the whole world was spinning around me, I tried to get up but fell immediately fell back down crying in pain, "Sweet mother of Thor!".

The door swung open smashing against the wall, "Hiccup!" Astrid ran to my side, I'd never been so pleased to see her in my life, which is saying something since I'm always pleased to see her, she rushed over to me and launched herself at me, smashing her lips against mine, pain radiated throughout my entire body, but I was too occupied to care. She straddled my waist and her hands rested on my chest, I placed mine on her hips ignoring the pain in my arms, I smiled into the kiss, despite the pain, I think this is the best thing I've ever woken up to.

Astrid pulled away and my brain refocused, I swear I go brain dead every time she does that, she buried her face into my chest and wailed, "It's all my fault!" Her fault?

I was a little confused to say the least, you could probably tell from the expression I was making, "What's your fault?" She looked up tears streaming down her face, "Astrid what is it?"

She sobbed again before answering, "When you won Snotlout just wouldn't stop saying how you only won because of Toothless, I got so angry I grabbed the biggest rock I could find a hurled it at his face, he dodged and flew off on Hookfang, I took Fishlegs hammer and chased him on Stormfly, I threw the hammer and..." She started sobbing again.

I could guess what happened, "Astrid, it's not your fault," I brought her eyes up to mine and wiped away her tears with my thumb, "you didn't mean for the hammer to hit me-" I was cut off by another round of sobbing.

She hugged me so hard I swear my ribs cracked, "Why don't you hate me?" The shock on my face must have been evident because she had a little giggle.

I recovered and kissed her lightly on the lips, "I could never hate you – you were only trying to defend my honour." I wiped away the rest of the tears.

She buried her face in my chest again, "Gothi said you were lucky not to have broken anything, she said It was lucky the trees and bushes were there to break your fall, and then..." She paused for a second holding back a sob, "then she said you might never wake up!"

She sobbed again and I pulled her close, "It's okay" I whispered, "I'm fine, I'm here, everything is going to be alright," I kissed her forehead.

She sighed but didn't move her arms from around me, "I don't know what I would do without you, you are everything to me." She looked up at me and stared deep into my eyes, "I love you Hiccup."

I stroked her cheek and brushed the hair out of her eyes, "I love you too" she snuggled up to me and I placed the covers over her, it was about midday but we were both so tired, from the bags under her eyes it was obvious she hadn't been sleeping. She fell asleep straight away and it didn't take long for her rhythmic breathing to send me into a deep slumber.

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**So what did you think? Please let me know in a review XD**


	13. A Challenge

So I had a review saying Where was Toothless? Well, I think you'll see in this chapter.

Wooo 100 follows! Thank you for the support guys, it means a lot to me, hope you like the Chapter :)

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Toothless trudged slowly back to Hiccup's house, he was worried for his rider, and it showed. He walked with his tail dragging behind him, and his moves were sluggish and tired, he hadn't slept at all, why did this always happen to his human? It wasn't fair, Hiccup didn't deserve any of this, Toothless had hated every second he had to wait for him to wake up after the Red Death and now he was doing it again!

He eventually slogged in through the door of the house and up the stairs. He squeezes through the doorway and stopped in his tracks, his rider was with his mate in their 'bed' was it? He was holding her in his arms and sleeping soundly. Relief washed over the dragon, and for a moment he couldn't have been happier. Then he felt a pang of jealousy.

Toothless spent every second at his side, and Hiccup has the nerve to wake up the moment he steps outside to relieve himself? That wasn't it, what's more he was giving all the attention to his mate! Toothless understood the importance of giving your mate attention, but his best friend needed to know who spent the most time with him! Toothless knew he wanted to go flying, but not right now, he would have his revenge, oh yes, revenge would be sweet, but for now he would sleep. Toothless lay down on his stone bed and quickly fell asleep.

He woke in the middle of the night after a dream about flying, he had been flying at night with Hiccup and Astrid on his back, he enjoyed this to the point that he decided to make it reality.

Toothless crept up to the bed, being careful to retract his teeth he grabbed Hiccup's leg in his jaws and pulled him out from under the covers. Hiccup yelped and grabbed onto the covers in an attempt to stay on the bed, however he only succeeded in pulling the sheets with him and therefore waking Astrid up.

Hiccup's body still hurt but it was bearable, he untangled himself from the blankets and turned to face his attacker, although he had a pretty good idea who it was. "Toothless!" Hiccup crossed his arms and frowned at his best friend. Toothless just looked down at his feet then back up to look into Hiccup's eyes, his pupils were dilated and the look he gave Hiccup said it all. Hiccup immediately understood, "I'm sorry Toothless, I was just so tired and then this vixen attacked me," he pointed to Astrid.

She folded her arms and scowleded, "You enjoyed it as much as I did."

Hiccup grinned. "I never said that I didn't," he winked at her and she rolled her eyes. Hiccup turned his attention back to Toothless, then started to scratch him in his favourite spot on his stomach, Toothless collapsed and rolled onto his side so Hiccup could continue, he started kicking his leg in pure bliss. Okay, now I forgive him, the dragon thought. Hiccup stopped scratching only to suggest something even better, "Do you want to go flying?" Toothless immediately sat up and began to purr excitedly, Hiccup chuckled, "I guess that's a yes, then." He turned back to face Astrid, she looked rather annoyed he wasn't coming back to bed, "would you like to come with me?" Her face lit up and her eyes sparkled.

A flight with Hiccup – now that was an offer she couldn't refuse, especially since he was giving her his dorky grin. She skipped over to Hiccup and pecked him on the lips, "How can I say no?" She helped him to put Toothless' saddle on and quickly attached his saddle bags, Thor only knows why he needs so much stuff, she climbed nimbly onto Toothless' back. The dragon quite liked Hiccup's mate, and liked having her ride him, as long as Hiccup paid him equal attention. He purred and gave Astrid a gummy smile. Hiccup climbed in front of her, she wrapped her arms safely around his waist and rested her chin on his shoulder, then kissed his cheek.

Toothless readied himself for take off; Hiccup reached down and patted his side, "Ready bud?" Toothless huffed in response, he tensed his muscles and leapt out of Hiccup's window, then a rush of air filled his ears and they were out into the cool night air.

Astrid's POV

Nights on Berk are cold, and when riding on the back of a dragon they are even colder, but when I'm with Hiccup, cuddled up to him or riding with him, the cold never seems to touch me, he's so warm for such a thin person. I hugged him tighter and gazed up at the stars; we flew out over the great ocean, gliding high above the waves. This was almost as good as our first flight, but nothing would ever top that.

The waves below turned to a sea of green as we flew over Berks rich forest, and we found ourselves flying toward the beach. The sand was clear in the light of the moon, the moons light gave the sand a sparkle like thousands of tiny diamonds, I sighed as I took in the view. There are so many beautiful places on Berk, and I can only thank Hiccup for the chance to see them like this, I sighed again. So many things to thank him for, I guess I should try and make it up to him somehow, I thought about this for a while until we had landed on the beach and Hiccup brought me back to reality.

He tried to turn around, braking my train of thought, "Uh Astrid," I realized I was still hugging him and let go. He climbed down from Toothless and offered me his hand; I smiled fondly at him, he's always the gentleman.

I took his hand and climbed off Toothless, when my feet hit the soft sand I didn't let go of his hand, instead, I laced my fingers through his and pecked him on the cheek, "Thanks babe," he used his free hand to grab a blanket from Toothless' saddle bag, he temporarily let go of my hand to spread the blanket across the sand before lacing his fingers back through mine. Toothless wandered over and lay down beside the blanket, we sat down and leant against his side, his hide was warm and oddly comfortable. I snuggled up to Hiccup and hoped every day could be like this.

Hiccup wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer, "I don't think Stormfly is going to be pleased," I gave him a puzzled expression, "I keep kidnapping her rider to fly on Toothless with me, I wouldn't be feeling the love if I was Stormfly" I wanted to say something but I could only laugh.

He frowned at me and started to talk but I shushed him with my finger on his lips, "Stormfly wouldn't be pleased if I woke her up, not all dragons want to go flying every second like Toothless."

He frowned again, "I swear it gets earlier every day," Toothless gave him a gummy smile and nudged his friend, Hiccup scratched him under the chin and rubbed the top of his head, "why can't you wake me up later you useless reptile?" Toothless just gave him another smile and licked his face, "Toothless! Argh!" I giggled, I couldn't help it the scene was too funny, he pouted and that just made me laugh more, "You are a horrible girlfriend." I stopped laughing, I felt hurt, but that went away when I saw he was grinning.

Oh, so he is going to play like that is he? I removed his arm from around me, I straddled his waist and moved close to his lips but didn't let them touch, I knew he wanted the kiss but he wasn't getting it that easily. "I think I'm a wonderful girlfriend," I put as much sass into my voice as possible, he gulped and I smiled, "but apparently I'm a horrible girlfriend, and horrible girlfriends don't kiss their boyfriends, which means you obviously don't want to kiss me," I put on my best sad expression and I pushed myself into a standing position and walked away swinging my hips as much as possible. I stole a quick glance behind me and I saw his adorable face. It was the saddest face I have ever seen, his adorable green eyes were staring sadly into mine.

He started stuttering and stammering, "Astrid...I didn't mean... you are wonderful…" He gathered himself up and tried again, "You're the best most beautiful girlfriend in the whole world and I'm lucky to have you," he looked down again sadder than ever. I wanted to run up to him and kiss him there and then but it took all my will power to stop myself.

I turned and smiled, the sun had started to rise shining through the tree tops, the light was behind me giving the illusion that if was glowing, swaying my hips once again I walked slowly up to him and straddled his waist again, I lifted his chin up so he was looking at me, "In that case…" I smashed my lips against his receiving a heartfelt moan, I deepened the kiss putting all my emotions into it, he did the same, I felt his hands running down my back and coming to rest on my hips. I instinctively reached up to run my hands through his hair, receiving another moan. Scratch my earlier statement, I wish every day could be spent like this, no. could be exactly like this.

=0=

Two hours later back at Berk, Authors POV

Snotlout was watching Tuffnut pluck up the courage to ask Mary out, he kept going and turning back straight away, or he would just sit there for five minutes debating with himself, this went on for half an hour before Ruff punched him, which surprisingly knocked some sense and confidence into him, Tuff replied with words! "Thank you, I needed that." To Snotlout's utter amazement he marched straight up to Mary, tapped her on the shoulder, and as soon as she turned around he kissed her full on the mouth, at first Mary was shocked but she soon melted into the kiss. Soon they were making out, this made most of the people around them very uncomfortable.

This didn't help Snotlout's mood, he was angry that Hiccup was the one all the girls were after now, he was angry that the girls were fast disappearing and starting relationships, but what he was most angry at was that Hiccup the Useless stole his girl! Astrid was always his and his alone, nobody could change that, especially not Useless. His anger grew even more when Hiccup and Astrid landed in the main square; she slipped off Toothless's back along with Hiccup. They shared a quick kiss, only making Snotlout's rage grow. They held hands as they wandered round the market, talking and laughing. Snotlout watched on jealousy consuming him, his mind wandered back to the race, he remembered the crowds all cheering for Hiccup and not him.

That was it, he was pushed over the edge.

He barged through the crowd, pushing people left and right, "Hiccup!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, making said boy turn around and look for the source. Snotlout stormed right up to Hiccup, "I challenge you!" Hiccups eyes were wide with fright; he knew he had to accept to uphold any honour he had left.

Hiccup took a deep breath, "What for?" He asked already knowing what for.

Snotlout grinned evilly, "Astrid's hand in marriage." Astrid gasped and quickly punched him in the face, Snotlout got to his feet unfazed, "Winner gets the right to marry her whenever they like." Hiccup knew he had to accept, and it was killing him, "Oh, and you get to choose the rules."

Astrid sensed what he was going to say, "Hiccup, don't!" She tried to hide it, but she was desperate.

Hiccup swallowed his fear, "A sword and a shield, until the other can no longer carry on fighting, not to the death." Snotlout sneered.

He nodded, "You've got it cuz, tomorrow at sunrise" Astrid looked almost in tears, Snotlout winked at her, "Don't worry babe, you'll be married to me in no time." Hiccup watched him leave, his whole being seemed to fade and diminish as he realized he would lose the woman he loves, this was surely the end of their relationship.

=0=

Everyone loves a bit of drama right? I'd love to know what you think of this because I wasn't sure about it. Thanks for reading hoped you liked this chapter. Stay with me becuase in the next chapter you will see Smotlout is a bad guys he doesn't really want to he was just angry.


	14. Unexpected Visitor

I didn't want to leave you with that depressing chapter, So what's happening this chapter? Well we will see who wins the fight, someone comes to Berk to stay for a couple of weeks, and Snotface finally finds a girl (who doesn't hit him for flirting with her) who could it be? Read on to find out for yourself.

=0=

Snotlout's POV

I woke up early this morning, the sun still hadn't risen and it didn't seem like anybody was up. I decided I needed to plan my day out [Har har, Snotlout actually planning stuff], although something was bothering me and I could quite put my finger on it, or was it the thumb? Probably thumb. Anyway I went downstairs for some breakfast, while I ate I tried again to remember what had happened, I looked around the room for inspiration; no, just my helmet, dad's shaving knife, my hammer, sword, and a shield by the door.

Huh? Whose was that? It wasn't my dad's - his was much longer and I didn't recognise it. Then it hit me, blind anger, rage and a challenge.

I fell off my chair as the memories returned, I'm such an idiot! I like to play the game to get the girl and I lost, I respect that, but I just had to go and let the anger of losing control me! Everyone is right, I'm stupid! Hiccup won fair and square, of course I was jealous of Useless, but I knew it was fair game, why did I have to open my big mouth?

The worst part was I couldn't back out now, oh, how I wish I could cancel the fight, but alas, once you've made the agreement you must continue with the challenge, after all: a reputation and honour is hard to come by. I looked over to the sword and shield by the door, they were perfected pieces of weaponry, only a master blacksmith could have made these. I groaned at the thought of fighting Useless with his own creations, what was worse was that Hiccup had given them to me.

I knew I could only go through with the fight and I would have to win to uphold my reputation, I felt so guilty and ashamed of myself that when I walked through the village I shouted at anybody who wished me luck on my way to the arena. "Shut up all of you!"

They all probably thought I was still angry from yesterday, I didn't care enough to apologise, besides Jogensens don't apologise! I reached the arena and noticed the crowd gathering, hoards of people - maybe even the whole village. Chief Stoick sat in his chair with the best view, Astrid was beside him and somebody else, was that? It was! But that doesn't matter I need to concentrate! I have to win this fight, no matter what!

Half an Hour Earlier: Authors POV

Hiccup sat at the table in his house with his head in his hands, he had dismissed all bad thoughts and tried to stay focused on the impossible task ahead. Besting Snotlout in a fight! Stoick barged in through the front door from Thor knows where, with the intent of encouraging his boy, "Good luck today son!" he beamed at Hiccup.

Hiccup groaned, "I'm going to need all the luck I can get," he banged his head on the table pathetically.

Stoick placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder, "Thor wills you to win Hiccup, he trusts you with the care of Toothless, the last Night Fury, one of his creations, and Freya approves you and Astrid. Otherwise you wouldn't be together now, you will win this fight. But remember, that doesn't mean it will be easy," Hiccup actually felt encouraged by his father's words. He had done the impossible and given Hiccup hope in his time of absolute terror.

He hugged his dad, "Thanks dad, I needed that." With his newfound confidence he grabbed the sword and shield he had spent all night making and went for the door.

Stoick stood and pushed his chair back, making a horrible screeching sound, "One last thing Hiccup, we had a visitor arrive early this morning. Do you remember Heather?" Hiccup groaned; Astrid will not be happy! "What is it Hiccup?" Stoick furrowed his brow and Hiccup sighed.

Hiccup sighed again before answering, "Astrid won't be pleased to see her back," Stoick laughed so hard the whole house shook, he had to grip the table for support.

He took his time to calm down, "Astrid as I hope you know, is your girlfriend, and you two are all this village very talks about, so Heather will already know, and I wouldn't worry about Heather angering her, Heather asked about on somebody in particular." Stoick finished there without another word on the matter and basically dragged Hiccup to the academy. Hiccup was going to walk himself he didn't need to be dragged, but hey, free ride!

=0=

Present

Hiccup stood in the arena waiting for Snotlout, he had his sword in his right hand and his shield on his left arm, he always felt wrong with a sword, he could never find a sword that felt balanced to him, it didn't matter perfectly balanced Gobber claimed them to be, they never felt right to him. The gate to the arena opened and Hiccup shifted nervously, Snotlout finally strutted through the gates waving to the crowd, however not many were actually cheering for him, most if not all wanted Hiccup to win.

Snotlout strut up to him with the arrogance of a peacock. "May the best Viking win. That means me, but I'll let you think you have a chance," Snotlout swaggered away to take his position.

Stoick stood and the crowd fell silent, "Best of luck to both of you."

He banged his hammer on the bars signifying the start of the fight. The boys started to circle each other swords drawn, Hiccup was ready, but didn't want to make the first move. Snotlout however, was bored, he challenged Hiccup's defence, slashing down on his head, Hiccup blocked Snotlout's attack with his shield, but another blow came down harder than the first. Hiccup could only dodge and block with his shield because Snotlout was much stronger than him.

Their swords finally clashed and Hiccup's arm was knocked away, Snotlout bashed his shield into Hiccup's body, sending him flying across the ring and causing his sword fall from his grasp.

He made a grab for his sword, but Snotlout saw this, and, grinning evilly, stamped on Hiccup's outstretched hand. A crunching sound and then a pained cry echoed throughout the arena, Astrid screamed curses at Snotlout and made a move to enter the arena - probably to kill Snotlout - and Stoick reached out one massive hand and pulled her back down into her seat. Hiccup's pain quickly turned into anger and he kick out with his prosthetic smashing Snotlout in the chest. He fell back and his sword skittered across the ring, knowing Hiccup wouldn't pursue, he dashed for his sword.

The crowd let out a breath they didn't know they were holding.

Hiccup dropped his shield and assessed the damage, he couldn't make a fist or move his fingers, he winced, Yep. Definitely broken. He stuffed his right arm through the shield handle and tightened the leather strap that was meant for his arm around his wrist. With his left hand he picked up his sword, although something felt different, not bad different, but right. The sword seemed balanced, it felt better to hold. Hiccup nearly dropped his sword in realisation - he was left handed Snotlout charged him from behind, an idea formed in Hiccup's head and he only had seconds to form it properly before he reacted. He whipped around at the last second, deflecting the attack with his shield, Snotlouts defence was thrown open leaving Hiccup to take full advantage, he slashed Snotlout's shield arm, Snotlout yelled in pain and the crowd responded with a huge cheer, he retreated and dropped his shield from his throbbing arm, Hiccup stood and waited for Snotlout to recover and block the flow of blood with some fabric torn from his tunic.

Hiccup dropped his shield wanting a fair fight, Snotlout came at him again sword slashing in a frenzy, Hiccup easily deflected each attack, he countered each one putting in a few cuts to Snotlout's arms and legs, but this only made him angrier and wilder. Hiccup couldn't find a way in to finish the wild teen, he may have been in a frenzy, but it made finding a way in extremely hard. Snotlout made for a killing blow to Hiccup's neck; but Hiccup blocked the attack easily and smashed Snotlout across the jaw. Snotlout lunged sluggishly, he had been dazed and this gave Hiccup his opportunity. He sidestepped and smashed down on Snotlout's blade, and it clattered out of his hand. The last thing Snotlout saw was the butt of Hiccup's sword coming toward his face before everything went dark.

Hiccup stood over Snotlout marvelling at his own fighting skills, so was the crowd, they hadn't made a sound since Hiccup knocked the sword from Snotlout's hand. Hiccup looked at the sword in his hand - left handed - who knew? He looked to where his father was sitting to see he was smiling and Hiccup grinned back at his dad.

Stoick stood up and yelled so the whole audience could hear, "Snotlout can no longer continue, Hiccup wins!" The crowd exploded making the whole island shake. Hiccup tried to find Astrid but she wasn't by his dad where he thought she would be, a flicker of worry entered his heart, maybe she was really routing for Snotlout? But his fears were silenced when she tackled him from behind sending them both to the floor.

Astrid wrapped her arms around her boyfriend as they rolled along the floor, she ended up on top and as soon as the world stopped spinning her lips found his and wouldn't let go, the cheers turned to whistles and laughs, they parted breathless and gasping for air. "You are one amazing man Hiccup." His hand caressed her cheek and brushed away the hair covering her eye. His other hand was killing him but that could wait, nothing mattered more than the fact he and Astrid could be together.

He smiled and she smiled straight back, "There was no way I was going to lose you, your everything to-" her lips were on his before he could finish his sentence, he kissed her back instantly, her tongue poked his teeth asking for entrance, he was only too happy to allow her, their tongues met and shared a dance before diving into the others mouth, they forgot the audience and there was only Hiccup and Astrid, they finally parted and she giggled at his dreamy expression, Hiccup stared at Astrid and caressed her cheek again, "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen." She blushed and gazed into Hiccup's eyes.

She took the hand that was on her cheek and laced her fingers through his, "I love you, Hiccup." his infamous grin spread across his face.

"I love you too, Astrid." She got off him and helped him up, they held hands as they walked out of the arena, Hiccup pulled her toward the gate guard.

"Take him to Gothi, would you?" The guard nodded and smirked.

A voice spoke from behind them, "I will help take him there." They turned to see Heather standing with an extremely happy expression on her face.

Both Hiccup and Astrid turned to each other mouths open, "Uh...ok." They both said the same thing and chuckled after they realized it; Heather helped the guard to carry the unconscious Snotlout up the hill toward the healer's house. "You need to go too," Hiccup suddenly remembered his obviously broken fingers and the pain returned with the memory. She heard him grind his teeth together and noticed him wince, she rolled her eyes, "Come on, we'll go find her before she has to treat Snotlout."

=0=

Heather sat by Snotlout while he slept in the healers room, she wondered to herself as she fiddled with her fingers. Why did he keep going after Astrid, and why he didn't get the message, after all there were plenty of other women who'd love to be with him - those huge muscles, that handsome face, and I bet he has a body to die for! Heather left the room only to grab a wet towel to dab Snotlout's head, this however woke him up, he spluttered to life, holding his head in his hands and groaning. He had a throbbing headache. When he finally realized there was someone in the room with him, he looked round and his jaw nearly hit the floor, "Heather?"

She giggled at his expression, "I do believe so." His expression didn't change.

He shook his head, no. "She's still there, I must be dreaming." She blushed madly, he dreamt about her? He held his arm out, "Pinch me." she giggled again.

He shook his head and waved his arm in her face, "You're not dreaming," He stood firm, and she rolled her eyes, "Snotlout, your not dreaming, now come on, we need to talk." He grinned. Finally, a girl who could see his obvious charm, he flexed his muscles; she giggled and pulled him out the door.

=0=

Disgusting right, I know Heather and Snotlout are a bit OOC but I like them together and who else is nice enough to put up with him? And yes I know in the film Hiccup is left handed but in the books he doesn't know that till the end of the second book, so that's actually a mistake of dreamworks, it turns out that he is amazing with a sword he just used the wrong hand, this is shown by Hiccup actually being able to throw his sword with accuracy in the second film meaning he is no longer useless in hand to hand combat. anyway hope you liked it, please review!


	15. Developing Relationships

Now for a bit of all the teens relationships, so we have the start of Heathlout, some Rufflegs, Snogging from Marnut, and classic Hiccstrid. Sit back and enjoy this fluffy chapter becuase after the last two, you deserve to have a nice one.

in answer to pandaDawgBE: they all look like HTTYD 2 characters except for Astrid who hasn't changed her outfit fully, yet, they are around 16-17 years old.

DragonTrainerBoss: I would love to hear your ideas, however you need to put spaces inbetween each letter of your email for me to see it on the site, it doesn't let you send personal details like that.

=0=

Heather pulled Snotlout out of the healer's hut and into the forest, she dragged him through the dense green foliage and over mossy fallen logs, he tripped a couple of times, not used to being forced anywhere and she was going quite fast, "Hey slow down babe." She slowed her pace slightly but it was still too fast for him.

He tripped again and fell flat on his face, "Snotlout!" Heather rushed to his side, "Are you okay?" he assessed the damage, just a nose bleed; he got up and brushed himself off.

He typically struck a pose and flexed his muscles, "Thank you for your concern but I'm fine, nothing can harm me!" He kissed his biceps as he said this, Heather rolled her eyes and took his hand again.

She squeezed his hand, "Silly me, how could I forget how strong you are?" She exclaimed, putting on a seductive voice, Snotlout instantly took the bait.

"Finally!" he almost screamed, then calmed himself. "I suppose I have to be strong, with all these dangerous animals in the woods," he moved a little closer to her, "wouldn't want you to get hurt." He inched closer still, but then remembered why they were here, he sat down on a log, looking around there wouldn't be anyone near them, they were deep in the forest, "What was it you wanted to talk about?" Heather was a little upset she failed to seduce him but also wanted to know about his feelings toward Astrid.

She sat down beside him and crossed her legs nervously, how could she ask this? She eventually decided just to be straight with it just because it was Snotlout, "How much do you like Astrid?" The question shocked him a little bit, but when he thought about it he couldn't come up with a reason why he liked Astrid apart from her looks, but in his opinion she had nothing on Heather.

He realized Heather was waiting for an answer, "I thought I did, but now I think about it..." He sighed knowing how much Astrid was never his and how they weren't in the slightest bit right for each other, "She was never nice to me, never took my flirting seriously, always tried to break my arms, I can't even remember why I did, to be honest. It all makes me feel so stupid now that I think about it." he finished thinking that was enough to please her, but he was wrong.

Heather liked where this was going but suddenly remembered the fight. "Then why were you fighting for her hand?" Snotlout, although being quite slow, could tell he couldn't lie going and knew he had to tell the truth.

The truth he thought, "I was angry." Obviously that wasn't enough for her.

She urged him on, "Why? I thought you said you didn't like her anymore."

Snotlout, forgetting people can't read minds, was a little pissed that she didn't get it, so his reply was angrier than intended. "You try living with the fact that the person you liked for so many years doesn't like you back, that she chose the guy who was the village loser for all his life over you! And then he beats you in dragon racing in front of the entire island! Then he kisses said girl right in front of your face! You try having all that hit you in one day! And we will just see who makes the next massive mistake!" He instantly regretted shouting when he saw her frightened expression. "Sorry, I didn't mean to… to shout," he put his arm round her.

She smiled. This was what she wanted, it was her wildest hope come true, he was warming up, and she had her chance, "No it's fine, I understand how you could be angry. I see you never meant to challenge him over Astrid; I can see why you liked her though, she is very pretty." Snotlout smiled.

He reached up to her chin and turned her face toward his, "Between you and me, I think I prefer brunettes."

=0=

Fishlegs is a clever guy, he is an expert in almost everything, we say almost because to him, women are one confusing bunch. He couldn't figure them out, no matter how hard he tried, what was it that made Ruff so - dare he say it - attracted to him? His answer came in through his bedroom door without knocking.

Ruffnut grumpily trudged in through his door and slammed it shut behind her. He filched at the loud noise and relaxed only a little when she flopped down beside him on his bed. He swallowed hard. Damn! Why does she make me so nervous? He thought as he put down the book he was reading, he was just about to ask why she was here when she spoke, and she was rather tired and annoyed. "Why are boys always such Meatheads, seriously I swear you're the only single nice guy left on the island!" Fishlegs was rather taken aback by this sudden outburst and was speechless at the compliment, "You're so different from the other guys, you know exactly what to say to make me happy, how to treat me, when the right time to give me a compliment is, and you're so generous, the only problem is you don't have enough confidence to ask me out!" She finished the last part throwing her hands in the air and yelling at the top of her voice, not even realizing she just confessed to liking him.

Fishlegs could only sit and gawp wide eyed like a fish, he could hardly breathe, let alone talk. Ruffnut Thorston had just confessed to liking him, and now he knew why! He took one deep breath, gathered what confidence he had and let it all go, "Doyouwanttobemygirlfriend?" He said it so fast he didn't think she would catch it, fortunately for him he didn't have to repeat himself.

Ruff launched herself at him kissing every part of his face before landing on his lips, "Of course you big dummy!" She punched him in the gut as hard as she could; "Don't make me wait next time!" Fishlegs could only smile through the pain, and he grinned and nodded still happy. He finally had had his first kiss. Ruff crossed her arms, obviously annoyed that he wasn't saying anything; she hardly had a thought to the fact that she must have punched him really hard. She shrugged and pounced, kissing him furiously. If Fishlegs wanted to breathe, he would have to wait, because Ruff had decided he didn't need air.

=0=

Tuffnut strolled toward the bakery whistling as he went. He had only just woken up and, it being midday, he was quite hungry. It wasn't the only reason he was going to the bakery, although Mary's dad scared him, it was worth it to see his girlfriend - at least he thinks she's his girlfriend - or was he her boyfriend? He shook his head. Why was he bothering to think if he knew it would end in disaster? Besides, going out on a whim had got him the girl, he remembered the day so clearly, thank the gods he didn't stop to think, that could've been nasty, that and he could've been there like a wordless idiot all day.

He finally reached his destination and he looked up and read the sign: Greenfield's Bakery was written in bold yellow runes. After reading the sign he looked back to the bakery, "Uh what am I doing here again?" he wondered out loud. Fearing someone heard he looked around. Good, nobody here. He thought as he walked through the archway/entrance to the bakery. Mary was kneading some dough rather furiously so she didn't see him come in, but that didn't matter because Tuff was just staring anyway. He was watching one area in particular that bounced up and down with each movement, for the second time today he wondered something out loud; "Wow, you're beautiful," Mary's head flew up, and she stumbled back in surprise.

As soon as she saw that it was only Tuff she smiled warmly, "Hey hon." She dusted down her apron and skipped over to him, she pulled him down for a kiss and in the process sprayed his hair with flour. He returned her kiss with equal passion, backing her up against a nearby table, he lifted her up onto it without disrupting their make out session.

A deep and throaty, "Ahem" brought them back to reality, and they parted almost instantly, then seemed to be intently studying their own feet. Mary's father, Ivan, silently laughed, the pair must have thought he would disapprove. "You can kiss later, but right now, I need these loaves made. So if you wouldn't mind Mr. Thorston, I'd like my daughter's attention on that please." Tuff went red as a tomato, Mary gave him a quick peck on the cheek and winked at him before resuming her work.

Being Tuffnut, he had no idea what to do next, "Uh… I'll just go then." He left the bakery quite confused, what should he do now? There was nobody around; they were all nowhere in sight.

Back inside the bakery, Mary was giving her father the silent treatment and death stares. The baker finally gave in. "Fine! One hour, and that's all, or so help me, there will be consequences!" Mary grinned and kissed her dad on the cheek.

She dashed for the door shouting, "Thanks dad!" as she left. Tuff hadn't got far before he heard someone yell his name and he turned around to see Mary running straight toward him, he had only seconds to register what was happening before her lips were on his and his back hit the grass. He smiled into the kiss, happier than ever.

=0=

Astrid woke up screaming after a nightmare, normally her parents would have come in to see what was wrong, but since they were on a fishing trip she was alone in her house. Stormfly poked her head through the window and crooned softly, trying to comfort her rider, but Astrid was shaking and couldn't get the nightmare out of her head. She'd had it before, and there was only one person that could help her sleep tonight. Hiccup. She climbed out of bed, slipped a tunic and leggings on and left her house. It was pitch black so she could only see a few feet on front of her; however this gave her the perfect cover. She crept through the village up to the chief's house, climbing nimbly in through Hiccup's window, knowing Stoick was out with her parents, she decided to make a loud thump to wake Hiccup up.

Landing with the according noise, Hiccup shot up in bed, he stared into the darkness, yet he couldn't see a thing, "Who's there?" He tried to make himself sound strong and assertive but his voice wavered and faltered. No reply. He knew someone was there, he could hear them breathing, a figure stepped out of the darkness wearing, one of his tunics?! As the person stepped into view he recognized her immediately, "Astrid?" She smiled sheepishly. "What are you doing here?" He could see Astrid had been crying and now just wanted to comfort her, "What's wrong, Astrid?" Tears started to run down her cheek, "Come here, tell me what's wrong," Astrid flung herself into his arms, and hugged him close.

She hugged him even tighter, "I...I had a...a nightmare," her words were split up by sobs. Hiccup kissed the top of her head and wrapped his warm arms around her.

He wiped away the tears with his thumb, "It's alright, you're okay," Astrid shook her head.

"It was so real. You were falling - falling into the fire and there was nobody to save you!" She hugged him tighter still for fear of losing him.

He returned her hug and kissed her forehead softly, "It's okay, I'm here, I'm fine, everything is going to be fine." He brushed away the tears and kissed her softly, he was about to pull back but she stopped him, moving her hands up to his neck she pulled him to her. Hiccup hadn't planned on a make out session, but since she needed comforting...(yeah that's the reason, keep telling yourself that Hiccup) Her kisses grew fiercer and more needy, not caring if she went insane kissing him. Hiccup kissed her back with as much passion as she was giving, they ended up lying on the bed puffing and panting. "You can...stay here...if you want," Hiccup choked out his words as his body tried to consume air. Astrid nodded slowly and removed her tunic and leggings, then she slid into his bed with him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his body, he kissed her neck and shoulders then nibbled her ear, "Sweet dreams, milady." Astrid had no nightmares that night and none since, knowing Hiccup would always be with her.

=0=

A chapter with all the gang, hope you like the pairings and their relationships, I'm updating faster than I thought I would, mostly because I suddenly come up with ideas while I'm writing earlier chapters, so it's a never ending cycle, anyway the couples turned out better than I thought and I've got some more of that on the way, but now what's coming is all the gang together, including Mary, but just before that we add a new dragon to the story! Whose dragon will that be? You'll just have to wait to find out. *grins evilly*


	16. Rings

First of all, I'm on holiday from the 9th to the 17th and I don't know if the campsite I'm going to has wifi, last time I went it did but they could have changed it, if it does have wifi I will keep updating my story but if not I leave you with this. sorry If this is a little boring but this chapter had to be done, But back to fun chapters next time XD

=0=

Hiccup was silently lying in bed with Astrid asleep against his chest, he had been this way for nearly an hour now, because there was something bothering him in particular: marriage.

Ever since his dad told him to find a wife, the thought stuck with him everywhere he went, no matter how hard he tried to concentrate, he couldn't get the damn thoughts out his head! He had found the girl, hell, he'd known who he wanted to marry all his life - Astrid, his girlfriend. Now he was worrying because the incident with Snotlout had showed him that Astrid wasn't completely his, not yet anyway, and this scared him because he couldn't bear the thought of losing her to someone else.

He wanted to marry Astrid before his dad told him to get married, he loved her so much, there's only one problem - how on Midgard was he going to ask her? Never in his life had he been so stuck, he had no idea what to do, how does one propose to the love of your life? He knew two things, you don't simply propose to Astrid, he had to sweep her off her feet and carry her off on the wind, preferably on a great flight, and then there was the bride price, Thor knows how much she's worth! And other thing he knew was, he needed something original something that signified eternal love or something romantic like that, maybe rings? Yes rings, with something special to us both on them. But not just any old iron ring, the ring had to be made specially for the occasion, special to them both. He knew what he needed to make the rings. Luckily for Hiccup Trader Johan was due any day now, unfortunately buying things in secret was difficult, he would have to tell Johan exactly what he wanted.

Hiccup heard a horn sound [I'd think it would be a bell or something that was common on a ship from those times], a ship was approaching - Johan! Hiccup, for the first time in his life, managed not to wake Astrid up. What was even more amazing was that she didn't wake when he fell over putting his clothes on and hit the ground the door carefully and as quietly as he could, Hiccup left the sleeping Astrid and ran out of the house. Toothless was about to bang (more like destroy)on Hiccup's roof when he got the surprise of his life, Hiccup burst through the door and was up [and at 'em] before Toothless tried to wake him up! Thinking something was up,Toothless leapt off the roof and ran to Hiccup's side, he cooed questioningly.

Hiccup felt Toothless nudge him and placed a hand on the dragon's snout, "Come on bud, we need to get to the docks,Trader Johan is here!" With that he jumped on Toothless's back with such grace that nobody would have known it was him (they weren't looking carefully), he urged Toothless to take off, and the dragon was only too happy to comply, beating his wings joyfully, they were up into the sky and off in the direction of the docks, they dove past the ramps leading down to the docks and landed just as Johan's ship came into port. Before Johan could lower the gangplank Hiccup had leapt onto his boat and acquired his attention.

A rather surprised Johan smiled as Hiccup rushed up to him and whispered conspiratorially under his breath, "Johan, can I speak with you privately?" Johan could tell this was important by the look on Hiccup's face.

Johan nodded, "Of course, right this way Master Hiccup," Johan gestured below deck, Hiccup descended and Johan followed. They made their way to the back of the hull, then after a moment of silence Johan urged Hiccup to talk, "What was it you wanted my boy, something for Astrid, I heard from the harbour master you two finally got together" Hiccup smiled.

He looked around to make sure nobody would hear, "I...ugh..." He sighed, there was no other way of getting what he wanted, "I'm going to ask her to marry-" He was cut off by Johan's exclamation of joy.

"Oh that's wonderful Master Hiccup, when were you-" Hiccup silenced him by placing his hand over Johan's mouth, shaking his head.

When he was sure he wouldn't continue shouting, he let him breathe, "Sorry, I just don't want anybody to know, I want it to be a surprise."

Johan grinned and winked. "Of course, why didn't you say so? Anyway, ah, what does this have to do with me?"

Hiccup looked around once more, he once again whispered, "I need something special for her ring, and for the wedding rings if all goes to plan..."

Johan smiled, "I know just the thing." He rushed off to delve into the darkness, when he returned he was carrying a small wooden box, "Here, you should find what you need." Hiccup opened the box to find a lump of sliver about the size of his fist.

Hiccup looked up to see a grinning Johan, "Where did you get this?"

Again Johan smiled, he then scratched his head a little, "Ugh, from the Outcasts, sold it to me for a whispering death egg, the thing hatched about five seconds after they took it, they said they wanted to train it like you did, boy, was I wrong! But how was I to know they would use it to breed more, I'm so sorry," he looked down sheepishly, then mumbled something.

Hiccup heard him and was surprised at what he said so he had to make sure, "What did you say?"

Johan cleared his throat, "You can have it free of charge," Hiccup's eyes widened, Johan continued, "because of the mess I put you in through the Whispering Deaths"

Hiccup smiled and nodded as he shook Johan's hand, "Consider yourself forgiven." They smiled at each other before they ascended to the deck of the ship, Hiccup waved goodbye and went off in the direction of the forge.

When he arrived Gobber was working and was much too busy to notice Hiccup, so he tiptoed past and into his private workroom. He quickly stashed the box containing the silver into a draw and locked it, he made sure nobody saw before exiting the forge; unseen by Gobber. Now what to put on the rings, Hiccup thought, he pondered going back to Johan's ship but something caught his eye. He hadn't been going anywhere in particular, but his automatic place to go when alone was the Hofferson residence, so when he noticed Stormfly's stable and the scales that had been used to adjourn her nest, he had the most amazing idea.

He just hoped dragon scales could be melted down...

=0=

He was lucky - Astrid and Stormfly were not in and probably out looking for him, because he would be busted if they were to catch him here. Creeping silently into the stable Hiccup gathered a few scales and was careful not to take too many [or linger too long] because Stormfly would surely notice and smell his scent. He escaped on a very confused Toothless who was starting to wonder why Hiccup wanted Stormfly's scales only Nadders stole things from Nadders for the sake of decoration or vanity. Things were made even more confusing when Hiccup searched around Toothless' bed and gave him a triumphant smile with a fist full of his scales, Toothless shook his head, humans eh?

Hiccup now had to find Astrid, and somehow get her finger measurement, He found her back at her own house feeding Stormfly, she turned to face him when she heard him coming, her expression turned to anger as he approached, not a good sign, "Hiccup, were have you be -" she was cut off when he did the only thing he could think of, he lunged forward and kissed her, this distracted her and when she gave up being angry and started to kiss him back this kept her distracted even more. He tied a piece of string around her finger receiving a near enough perfect measurement of her finger and slipped it off without her realising. He slipped the string into his pocket as she pushed him up against the wall of the stables and broke the kiss.

She narrowed her eyes, "What did you do?" Hiccup mentally screamed, busted!

He hesitated and smiled when he thought of the right excuse, "I was just sorry I left you alone in my house while I went to trader Johan, and then went flying without telling you, so I thought I would make it up to you," Astrid shook her head.

"No what did you do with my finger?" Hiccup's brain sparked to life and and he answered without fault, "I was just measuring your finger because I was going to compare yours to mine," he closed his eyes, waiting for punch that never came, but instead she just laughed.

She pecked him on the lips, "You are such a dork, I thought you'd actually done something bad… again." Hiccup gave her his goofy grin. She still had him pinned against the stable wall so she took the opportunity to catch up on some missed kissing for the day, Hiccup was only too willing. He had successfully tricked Astrid and got some quality time with her too. Not bad for a dork, he thought. She finally pulled away and whispered "but your my dork"

When Astrid finally let Hiccup go, he searched the book of dragons for clues on melting scales, but all he found was 'fire resistant' in bold runes. Finally he gave up and asked Toothless, "Bud, can your scales melt?" Toothless understood because he had gotten quite good at understanding the human's silly words now.

The dragon slowly nodded his head making Hiccup sigh in relief, Hiccup gathered the scales and headed off to the forge, when he arrived Gobber had gone and he had the smithy all to himself, he set to work immediately stoking the fire. He continued to tend to the flames so it was hotter than the great fires of Valhalla. He took the lump of silver out of the back room and melted it down to liquid, carefully pouring in into a specially made mould that he designed himself when he was smaller, the mould had a ring of extremely thin and shallow rock line that allowed the silver to run underneath and then allow for another metal to be poured into the gap left by the rock line when the rings was released.

Once the Silver had set he put it aside to cool, after more furious pumping on the bellows (and with a little help from Toothless), Hiccup finally had the forge hot enough to melt the dragon scales, he hoped, he placed both scales in the rock to melt and watched them slowly turn to liquid. He was surprised to see that the different scales didn't mix, but only the areas touching the other scale liquid seemed to mix with the other, keeping the two scales pure but joined. Hiccup left the scales to melt fully and waited for the silver to fully cool. After about an hour the silver had cooled and Hiccup broke the moulds releasing the incomplete rings. Hiccup then used two half's of a normal ring mould for each ring to incase the rings, he sealed the half's together and drilled a hole to the rings inside; he took deep breaths to steady himself as he poured the scale solution. Satisfied with himself, Hiccup took the cooling rings into his house, avoiding people on the way wasn't hard since he had worked well into the night.

On arrival he hid the moulds with the cooling rings inside, beneath the loose floorboards. Hiccup yawned and realized just how tired he really was, he had spent most of the day in the forge so he really needed to sleep. Luckily for him Toothless hadn't slept either, therefore Hiccup and Toothless would be sleeping in together tomorrow. He didn't even bother to get undressed; he flopped down on his bed. As soon as his head hit his pillow he was fast asleep.

=0=

The gang, excluding Hiccup and Astrid, were all gathered in the academy. Fishlegs had taken charge of the situation and was teaching Mary about the bond. There was a Gronkle, Deadly Nadder and Monstrous Nightmare in the ring. Mary had to now make a bond with one of them.

She slowly took one look at the Gronkle and shook her head Fishlegs visibly deflated, as he had been wishing for a Gronkle Buddy, "I don't think it suits my personality."

She moved onto the Nightmare and moved toward it slowly, as she reached her hand out the Nightmare sneezed and accidentally flamed up which surprised the poor thing, sending it into panic. Tuff was about jump in and save her, but the Nadder got there first, wrapping her wings around Mary to protect her from the flaming nightmare.

When the danger passed, the Nadder crooned softly and nudged Mary with her head, Mary reached her hand out and closed her eyes, seconds later she felt the Nadder press her horn to Mary's palm. Mary smiled warmly at the dragon, scratching its chin. She studied the Crimson and gold colours of her Nadder, "I think I'm going to call you...Blaze" Blaze purred in response and licked Mary's face, she giggled, "I think she likes her name." Mary began scratching Blaze behind her crown of spikes, this sent the dragon into a state of complete bliss, snorting and purring in response to the attention. Tuff smiled at Mary, now she's hot and awesome, he grinned at the thought. She is now the world's deadliest weapon, wait, or was that me? Ahh I forget, way too complicated to think about.

=0=

Almost forgot to put that last part in about Mary's dragon after I said I'd introduce a new dragon, couldn't have just a tiny but of Hiccstrid could we, had to have some Tuff stupidity too.

Thanks for reading please review! XD


	17. Dowry

Marriage is in the air! Or is it a proposal? Or something else..? That's for me to know and you to find out... Hope you like this chapter XD

=0=

After the ring fiasco, Hiccup spent the whole week in the forge, the rings may have been finished but he was far from done. There was still the daunting task of asking Astrid's parents for her hand in marriage; Skomlr Hofferson is a scary man (and Astrid's mother even more so), even after they told Hiccup they had his complete faith... Hiccup shook his head to clear his thoughts. If he wants to marry Astrid he has to give a dowry, and making one is easy but expensive. And although he is still Gobber's apprentice he still has to trade for materials, otherwise Gobber would've gone out of business years ago.

Although he did get a discount, the trading materials his father had given him was more than enough, even without Gobber's discount! The only problem was Gobber himself; he was always looking over Hiccup's shoulder and marveling at his apprentice's work. Luckily for Hiccup weapons were a common thing in the forge, so lying about what they were for wasn't all that hard. What confused him was that Gobber didn't pry into his work, unbeknowest to Hiccup, Gobber knew he was lying, he didn't want to pry so he promised himself that he wouldn't, but also knew Hiccup needed to keep it a secret so when Astrid came looking for him, the blacksmith just told her he needed Hiccup for the whole week.

Nevertheless, Gobber still checked on Hiccup every five minutes. And a day Right on cue the blacksmith invaded Hiccup's work space for the hundredth time today, "What'cha workin' on, lad?" he had given up not prying, (it was boring) Gobber looked over Hiccup's shoulder to find he was adding the finishing touches to an axe; it was so fine that Hiccup could have sworn he heard Gobber's chin hit the floor. The axe handle itself was a thing of beauty, the wood was a smooth light oak and was emblazoned with Nadder scales, the axe was double headed and sharp enough to cut stone, he had placed a single Nadder scale on each side in exactly the middle of the axe head, Hiccup had used the leftover silver to coat the handle where it joined the axe head, finally he had inscribed the runes, 'Hofferson' in bold and underneath that were the runes 'Honour doesn't come from the items in your home, but the courage in your heart'.

Hiccup placed the axe carefully in a cart already filled with magnificent weapons, and Gobber's eyes stayed fixed on the cart, most of the weapons and shields had turquoise and yellow Nadder scales imbedded on them somewhere and all were more beautiful than anything he had ever managed to make. He smiled proudly at Hiccup, "The apprentice has become the master, eh lad?"

Hiccup chuckled; setting down the shield he was now working on, "Do you think it's too much?" Hiccup then cursed under his breath and hoped Gobber wouldn't notice his slip up.

Unfortunately he did, "Too much for what, lad?" Hiccup sighed

Well might as well spill now, he thought. "I... uh... I'm going to ask Astrid to marry me," he said the last part whilst grinning madly, to his complete surprise Gobber started to tear up, he pulled Hiccup into a huge bear hug and crushed all the air out of him,"Gobber!" Hiccup gasped, "Breathing… important!"

"Ah, right," Gobber said sheepishly, setting the boy down. it was a full minute before Hiccup could breathe again and by then he was seeing stars, Gobber started tearing up again but his tears were quickly replaced by a huge grin and another bear hug.

As Gobber put Hiccup down again he remembered Hiccup's question, "Of course it's nit too much, lad!" He exclaimed, "If you love her then nothing is too much for her, there's no way you will be refused!" Hiccup grinned in response, his confidence now soaring higher than ever. He put the finishing touches on the shield he was working on and placed it into the cart. He suddenly realized that the dowry would make his statement about courage that he wrote on the axe redundant, but he quickly dismissed the thought, they would appreciate the statement and his gifts all the same. Now comes the hard part.

Asking Skomlr his permission to marry his daughter was going to be like facing down a bear, a very hungry, very large, bear, Hiccup swallowed his fears and started pushing the cart through the village toward the Hofferson's hall. Gobber had gone ahead to ask for Astrid's assistance in something to get her out of the house something about shooing Nadders off the windmills, after much effort on Hiccup's part (and a lot of amused watching on Toothless' part) he finally arrived at the Hofferson residence, he raised his hand to knock.

=0=

Skomlr's POV

I just settled down for a mug of mead and some bread and honey when I heard a knock on the door; I got sluggishly from my seat and trudged over to the door. I puffed up my chest and readied myself for whoever might be there, being soft in front of my wife and daughter is fine and of course Hiccup, but I have a reputation to uphold! I pulled the door open to find Gobber standing before me. This was quite odd since this was the first time he had come to my door... maybe he had come to the wrong house... nevertheless I still greeted him, "Hello Gobber," I probably sounded a little bit grumpy, wouldn't anyone after being interrupted during a snack?

He smiled cheerfully, "Hello Skomlr, is Astrid in?" That was surprising; I had expected he had been sent by the chief to collect me for something.

So naturally I was curious, "What do you want her for? If you don't mind my asking." Gobber was quite taken aback by the last part, normally I would just demand and not be polite because I'm a Viking and Vikings are not naturally polite (unless held under the burning glares of their mothers), however I was tired and couldn't really be bothered to keep up the barbarian charade, it was Gobber after all.

He stuttered for a moment - which was odd - Gobber never stuttered, it was almost as if he didn't know why he came, "I…uh...some Nadders are acting up a little and Astrid is the expert on Nadders, besides Hiccup, and those two are never apart. I was amazed Hiccup willingly helped me in the forge this week, poor lad was exhausted this morning, he spent all night finishing orders for me, so I asked him why and he said he had 'been away from Astrid too long', and fell straight asleep." Gobber kept this up for a while, it was as if he was trying to sell Hiccup to me, I chuckled under my breath, He beat you to it Gobber, I smiled and interrupted his most recent compliment about Hiccup, something about Hiccup being the most generous person he'd ever met, something else I already knew, "I'll just go get her."

He stopped talking and looked at me confused, "Get who?"

I rolled my eyes, "Astrid, so she can calm the Nadders." His brow furrowed for a second.

His mind seemed to click into place as he remembered why he came in the first place, "Aye, yes, the Nadders." I left him in the doorway and went to Astrid's room.

I knocked once, "Astrid, Gobber needs help with some Nadders, come down and help him please," she opened the door just as I finished my sentence, she had a huge smile on her face which confused me because she had been moody all week because she hadn't been spending time with Hiccup, "What's got you so happy?" I asked truly bewildered.

She grinned before hugging me, another surprising thing, "If Gobber isn't in the forge, that means he's done; that means Hiccup's done too!" I mentally rolled my eyes, I should have known it would have something to do with Hiccup, she was past me and out the door in a few seconds, the next thing I saw was Astrid dragging Gobber toward the main square. But just as I sat down to eat my bread and honey, I heard another knock on the door, grumbling considerably, I opened the door.

=0=

Hiccup's POV

The door opened and the expression on Mr. Hofferson's face didn't help my confidence, "Hello Hiccup. I'm sorry, but Astrid isn't here," I took a deep breath.

I puffed my chest out to try and gain a little more confidence, "I'm here to talk to you actually." The shock on his face would have been funny but at the moment I was trying to build as much confidence as possible, he didn't reply so I forged on, "I have come to ask your permission to marry your daughter." I puffed out my chest even more hoping to look stronger, I let that sink in for a few seconds and he didn't make a sound, I could have sworn I saw him grinning under his beard but it was hard to tell since the bushy hair was so thick for all I know, he could've been sticking his tongue out at me. His eyes widened as the full force of my statement hit him, for the third time today I was engulfed into a bear hug, my bones must have cracked and snapped in so many different places but I was too happy to care, at the same time one thought was running through my head, I managed to wheeze out the words still in his vice like grip, "What...about...the...dowry?"

The hugging stopped and suddenly I could breathe again, he scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Yes, uh, the dowry. I forgot about that." I grabbed the cart and pulled it into view.

His eyes widened at the contents of the cart, "I hope this is enough to cover the cost of your daughter, I know how much she means to you, and I know no amount of animals or weapons can come close to her worth, but I love her with all my heart and will never stop loving her." I didn't have time to breath after is finished rambling because once again my bones were being crushed to powder.

"Oh Hiccup! This is more than I could have ever dreamed of! Of course you can marry her, you could have turned up without a dowry and I would still have let you marry her, there is nobody more deserving of my daughter." His words made me feel like I could fly, in a few months I could be marrying Astrid Hofferson! Mr. Hofferson started rifling through the various weapons, with every item that was uncovered there were various oohs and bushy beard grins to accompany it, the grins followed when he asked whether I made the specific item he was holding. Finally he came to the axe I was specifically proud of, his jaw dropped open as he turned it over in his hands, the only words he could manage were "Did you?" I just nodded and his jaw dropped even further, it was several minutes of examining before he could speak again, "You truly are an amazing man Hiccup."

And just when I thought my day couldn't get any better.

Now my grin must have been bigger than ever before, my mind was full of ideas and plans, there was one in particular that caught my attention, one particular cove, somewhere the village had never been...

My train of thought was interrupted by Skomlr making plans of his own, "When shall we set the wedding for? how much mead must be made? Will we invite other tribes?" This snapped me out of my own plans.

I shook my head vigorously, "I came to ask you because that's our tradition, but I wasn't going to set a marriage without asking Astrid, in my opinion it is as much her choice as yours, so I am going to do something I like to call a 'proposal', that is when I show her the ring I've made, then I ask her to marry me." Skomlr just stood in his place rooted to the spot, I thought he would shout and yell at me that I'm nuts but after a few seconds his eyes lit up.

He cupped his hands to his mouth and leaned close to my ear and whispered the exact location of my proposal, when he pulled away I nodded, "okay then Hiccup, you've got yourself a deal, when she excepts, because she will I have no doubt of that, we will set a date."

=0=

I left the Hofferson residence and arrived home a silly grin plastered on my face, I walked in and noticed my dad, he was poking at the fire and not really doing anything productive, I suppose I have to tell him, "Hiccup." Okay my mind had been made up for me.

I stopped climbing the stairs to face him, "Uh...I have to talk to you… dad."

He clasped his hands together, "I need to speak with you too, son," we both took deep breaths.

"I've got Skomlr's permission to marry Astrid,"-"we are going to that island you told me about-what?" We said both of our sentences at the same time and the last part.

He pointed at me, "You go first,"

I shook my head, "No, no, you go first,"

He clasped his hands together again, "Alright, the whole tribe, minus a few, for defending Berk, is going to visit that island you were talking about, Terror Isle is it?"

I couldn't believe it, he had already ruined my plans, "Oh man, I should gone first, because you know, I was thinking that's where I wanted to ask Astrid to marry me."

My dad shook his head, "We need an island to fall back to in times of need and this fits the bill."

I shook my head back, "Can you seriously not hear me?"

He stood above me and looked down, "It's time Hiccup, this is serious, when you're the chief, the tribe comes first, which means you walk like me, you talk like me, you think like me, so the tribe comes first, you'll just have to make do with the tribe there,"

There was no point in arguing, "this conversation is feeling very one sided,"

Stoick raised his voice, "Deal?"

I gave up, "Deal."

He smiled, "good, now off to bed, we are starting preparations tomorrow, we leave in a week."

=0=

So next chapter is the PROPOSAL, so hope you liked this chapter and thanks for reading, please review XD


	18. Proposal

I'm so sorry for keeping you guys waiting, I didn't have writers block I just had too many ideas to choose from and I couldn't decide. For younger readers at one point you might think this goes past a T rating but don't worry stay with me i promise it doesn't. Anyway hope you enjoy this chapter

Astrid's POV

Once I had calmed the Nadders that were running amok, I only wanted to see Hiccup, a week without Hiccup was a week without joy, sure I had my friends namely Ruff to keep me company, but most of the time they were to occupied with each other or just wouldn't bother to meet up because of their other half, at least I had my faithful dragon. I could escape on flights with her as much as I wanted, flying alone with Stormfly is amazing and sometimes it's nice to be alone with her.

I cherish those moments, but even a day without Hiccup having been involved reminds me of how much I love him, doing tricks and flips is fun for the first few days, but without Hiccup to show off or compete against it's not the same...

I gave Stormfly her dinner, the finest chicken that could be bought, that's what I told her… As she scarfed down her dinner I slumped against the stable wall, calming those dragons had really taken the energy out of me, it would have been easy of Hiccup were there... I realized just how amazing my boyfriend really was - any task to do with dragons that would take others hours to do, would take him half that or most likely a few minutes if I was helping him. We could survive without him with the collective knowledge of the group, but it wouldn't be easy without him.

I found myself drifting off to sleep, my eyelids drooped heavily and I felt my head rest on my shoulder and then I entered a dream filled slumber.

I was outside the great hall and I could hear laughing and singing, I entered through the great doors and wandered over to the group's usual table, they were all there except Hiccup. My eyes scanned the hall searching for him on instinct, but he was nowhere to be seen. A hand touched my shoulder making me spin round and tackle the assailant to the ground, I had raised my fist to strike, but then I realised who the person who I had tackled was.

I cursed under my breath, "Sorry babe, reflexes." Hiccup grinned his stupid dorky, completely adorable, irresistible grin. I rolled my eyes and got to my feet, pulling Hiccup up with me.

He leaned down for a kiss and I met his lips, sadly he pulled away after a few short seconds and left me wanting more. He took my hand and slowly bent down on one knee even though he knew it was bad for his leg, I'm going to have to chew him out on it later.

I suddenly realised the whole of the great hall had gone silent, not a whisper was heard, I stared into Hiccups eyes, they were alight and just through his eyes you could tell he was excited, "Astrid Hofferson," his voice echoed throughout the hall, "will...Will you...will you marry me?" I was speechless and my mouth dropped open, and I was at a loss for words, suddenly darkness took me and I could hear Hiccup saying my name "Astrid! Astrid! Astrid!" But the voice wasn't getting farther away, it was getting closer...

My eyes cracked open and there was Hiccup kneeling beside me his hand on my cheek, he smiled lightly and kissed my forehead, "Sorry to wake you, but you had fallen asleep against the stable wall and it didn't seem all that comfortable, or good for your neck." I sighed, it was just another dream, one I wished to be reality, I'd had the same dream several times, except the others ended with me screaming yes and a lot of kissing… I was brought back from my daydream by the very thing I was thinking about, his lips met mine giving me a warm fuzzy feeling through my whole body, I instantly returned the kiss, I found myself running my hands through his hair, he moaned something that sounded like my name, I poked my tongue impatiently at his teeth, they parted and our tongues met and fought for dominance.

I decided that I didn't like having my back against the wall and quickly pushed off the wall, my hands hit hard stone floor protecting his head from any damage, not wanting to break the kiss I quickly straddled his waist and pulled him up by his tunic, the kiss broke only for a second for me to remove his tunic, I was a bit reluctant to remove mine but I figured it was only fair, once I removed my tunic I went to find his lips again but the weren't there, he was lying on the floor panting and he was staring at my chest, I suddenly felt very self conscious, this was the first time Hiccup and seen me in any sort of light, the stable doors were closed and didn't allow anybody to see what we were up to but light poured in through the windows suggesting it was early evening or late afternoon.

My breasts were small for Viking women, they were a b-cup which is small compared to all women on Berk. So I was for the first time in my life, scared of what someone would think about me, he looked up to my eyes and must have seen the fear in them but all he could manage was: "Beautiful." this one word filled my with confidence, I started to untie the strings on his trousers but he stopped me and I suddenly realized what I was about to do, "Astrid...we can't" My eyes met his and spoke volumes, the law is the law. The moment now ruined, so we redressed and left Stormfly's stable.

=0=

One week later: Snotlout's POV

Me, Fishlegs and Tuff had been helping to load and prepare the ships for the trip to that stupid island we went to a while back, I can't even remember the name it was so stupid [and we take a short commercial break to remember the stupidity of more than half the names in the Archipelago], anyway Tuff had been teasing me and Fishlegs about the hollowed out tree incident all week, suggesting we were going to sneak off to share 'special moments' as he called it. There was no way on earth I was doing that! I would be spending as much time with Heather as possible, after our little moment in the forest I immediately asked her out, I couldn't stand it any longer and told him that I was with Heather. He stared at me open mouthed and then punched me on the shoulder, "Nice catch, man."

I grinned in response, "I totally thought she would punch me like Astrid would when I asked her out, and I was completely surprised when she said yes," I quickly realised my slip up, "uh...I mean...I had her completely before she even arrived on the island." Tuff grinned and slapped me on the back. [Snotlout did call dibs, if I remember correctly]

"Congrats man, or woman, you are male right?" I rolled my eyes, how did he even get Mary? A shout from the walkway above us diverted my attention.

I looked up and waved as Heather, Ruff and Mary walked down the ramp above us, "Hey babe," I noticed her wave back and giggle, I ran to meet them, when I finally got to them, Heather launched herself at me, luckily I'm not a fishbone like Hiccup, so I could catch her without falling off the docks, "Careful babe, you might hurt me," I winked and she giggled again. I chucked my arm around her shoulder and we walked down to the guys, she kissed my cheek giving me a weird feeling, sort of warm and fuzzy, urgh I'm going soft, I hope this feeling isn't permanent or I might be soft for life, if this carries on I might get - feelings! Oh Odin forbid! I can't get feelings, I'm a Viking! I'm tough! I need to let her go!

Lips met mine and I snapped out of my daydream to find myself lying on the docks with Heather on top of me.

Oh, I just figured out what that fuzzy thing is, it's a happy feeling! Damn it - I have feelings! Oh well, too late to do anything about it now. She pulled away because I hadn't kissed back and I captured her lips before she could get away, best five minutes of my life! "Set sail!" In the time that I was umm... distracted, everyone had finished boarding the ships, me and the gang waved them off because we are arriving on dragons...

=0=

Five hours later Hiccup's POV

Finding a place for all the villagers had been hard, since everyone wanted to be together we chose the main clearing to set up the tents, but people wanted to be near this person and have little groups of tents put together, so I, and when I say 'I', I mean the gang decided it would be better to leave my dad and Gobber to sort out all problems. So now we all sit around a campfire talking, I put a fur blanket around Astrid's shoulders to keep her warm, "Babe, what about you?" she asked.

Although I'm freezing I don't care about myself as long as she's fine, "It's fine milady," she raised one eyebrow not believing a word of what I said, "Seriously - I'm fine," Astrid opened up her fur blanket and gave me her best 'come hither' look, I almost went over to her but a cold breeze reminded me what I was trying to do, I quickly sat back down and crossed my arms and gave her a commanding nod "Astrid, I'm fine!"

She glared daggers at me, "Hiccup, I love that you care for me so much that you would die from hyperthermia to keep me warm but there is room for two under this fur, So get the Hellheim over here!" I shot up and darted over to Astrid, I tripped over and fell, luckily my girlfriends arms of steel were there to catch me, "Wow, that was quick babe," she steadied me and put the fur around me instead, she pushed me down on the log she was sitting on before, and sat on my lap. Snotlout and Tuff both made whipping sounds and actions, Astrid gestured to Snotlout and Tuff.

"Girls?" Their respective girlfriends both punched their boyfriends, I grinned at Astrid, I wrapped the furs around her and kissed her cheek, "See? I told you we could both fit." The boys made whipping actions and sounds again and got punched for it, Astrid shook her head, "Will they ever learn?"

"Pssst," I turned to see a large ginger beard poking out of the nearest bush.

I sighed and face palmed, "Dad, we know you're there,"

He squeezed himself out of the bush bring most of it with him, "I need to talk to you son," We hadn't walked very far before he burst, "Have you asked her yet?" With one shake of my head his whole demeanour dropped and his smile disappeared.

I smiled at him, "I'm going to ask her soon, I just need you to keep everyone away from us - and Gobber - I know you're in the bush behind us." there is a serious eavesdropping problem amongst us Hooligans.

Half a bush shuddered and a two limbed mentor stepped out from the undergrowth, "Sorry laddie, I just wanted to hear for myself."

I chuckled, "It's fine Gobber I just want the moment to be perfect," Both my dad and Gobber grinned and I hurried back in the direction of my friends.

=0=

Authors POV

When Hiccup was out of earshot Gobber turned to Stoick, "We're going to watch aren't we?" Stoick grinned at Gobber.

"You know me too well, now let's go get everyone!" Stoick romped off to the village encampment.

Gobber shook his head, "This ain't gonna end well," he hobbled after his best friend as fast as a one legged Viking could.

=0=

Hiccup came back to the group and whispered in Astrid's ear, "Will you come for a walk with me?" She turned and smiled.

She shrugged off her fur, "Sure babe, it will be good to get away from these Meatheads," she saw the girls' expressions and realised her mistake, "not you girls, just your boyfriends," Hiccup took Astrid's hand as they walked away from the group, "Where are we going babe?"

Hiccup grinned and decided to keep it all a surprise, "You'll know it when you see it," Astrid huffed in response and punched his shoulder.

His hand instinctively flew to the spot where she had hit him, "That's for being mysterious," she grabbed his tunic front and kissed him lightly on the lips, "and that's just for being… cute." No matter how many times she did that Hiccup would always have his goofy grin after she kissed him, she giggled and started playing with his tunic and her hair to make him nervous, she got what she wanted when Hiccup started stuttering about her being a vixen. "Babe, you are definitely the cutest person on this island." She quickly kissed him to wipe the grin off his face, "You were taking me somewhere."

Hiccup shook his head to clear it [the grin, I'm guessing], "Uh yeah, it's this way," they picked their way through the forest until they finally came across the cove that Hiccup had now named Divine Cove, he would never say but it was named after Astrid's first name. they made their way to the cave and stopped at in the entrance, Astrid and Hiccup both found themselves lost in the other's eyes. Neither Hiccup or Astrid was aware of the huge mass of Vikings creeping toward the cave, unfortunately for them they forgot to take Toothless and Stormfly so both were following their scent, this leading the whole village to them.

Hiccup detached himself from Astrid's eyes and bent down on one knee, he took out a small beautiful wooden dark pine box, he slowly opened the lid to reveal the engagement ring he made, "Hiccup what-" Hiccup put a finger to his lips,

"Shhh, don't speak," Astrid nodded slowly, "In this cove exactly two months ago, we shared our feelings for each other, we shared our first kiss as a couple, it was in this cove that our lives changed forever, it was in this cove that I confessed my undying love for you, and it is in this cove that I ask the Divine Beauty, Astrid Hofferson, to marry me." Even though it was pitch black Astrid's eyes shone, a single tear rolled down her cheek, her lips curved and a beautiful smile spread across her face. She flung herself at Hiccup and kissed him hard throwing as much love in as she could, she pulled back and choked back a sob, "Yes! A thousand times, yes!" Hiccup slid the ring on her finger, they kissed again just as passionately as before and suddenly the darkness erupted into cheers...

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What did you think, I hope you liked it, because this is my favourite moment in the story so far

Thanks for reading please review XD


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